{"id":98976,"date":"2015-11-08T15:26:57","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T22:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=98976"},"modified":"2015-11-09T16:11:01","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T23:11:01","slug":"feds-subpoena-tax-and-rev-audit-records-newspaper-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/11\/feds-subpoena-tax-and-rev-audit-records-newspaper-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds subpoena Tax and Rev audit records, newspaper reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal investigators have subpoenaed records related to state audits of people who have been at odds with Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s administration or political operation, The Santa Fe New Mexican is reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gov.<\/a>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Susana Martinez’s spokesman says the suggestion that her administration retaliated against former staffers and political team members with tax audits\u00a0is “a complete and utter joke.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Some people who currently\u00a0work for Martinez\u2019s administration or political team pushed back, saying they\u2019ve also been audited. And they\u00a0pointed to a recent, dramatic increase in efforts to identify uncollected taxes.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s article<\/a> was the second time this weekend that The New Mexican reported on federal investigators asking questions about people close to Martinez. The FBI has been inquiring about the governor\u2019s fundraising and her political consultant Jay McCleskey, according to an article published Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The newest article quoted \u201ca person familiar with the investigation\u201d into the Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD) who said \u201ca subpoena seeking information about at least some of the audits had been issued.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Mexican, again citing the unnamed source, reported that the investigation is looking at \u201cwhether the agency performed retaliatory audits on former members\u201d of Martinez\u2019s political team or \u201cstate officials who ran afoul of her administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New Mexican quoted a handful of people who are at odds with Martinez and have been audited. Brent Eastwood, a former staffer in Martinez\u2019s Economic Development Department, said he signed a waiver to let investigators obtain information from TRD about his gross receipts taxes, the newspaper reported. Eastwood has a pending whistleblower lawsuit against the administration.<\/p>\n

And Andrea Goff, Martinez\u2019s former campaign finance director, said she\u2019s been \u201crepeatedly audited\u201d for the years 2009-2012. Goff has been in the news because in 2013 she talked with the FBI about Martinez\u2019s campaign activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a dutiful taxpayer for almost 3 decades, this nonstop barrage by the state government has been a time-consuming, costly burden on me and my small business, and an enormous stress on my family,\u201d The New Mexican quoted Goff as saying.<\/p>\n

Chris Sanchez, current communications director for the Governor\u2019s Office, rejected the suggestion that the audits are retaliatory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Martinez admin is targeting adversaries for tax audits \u2013 then explain how her comms director got selected? That\u2019s me,\u201d Sanchez tweeted<\/a> Sunday.<\/p>\n

Adam Feldman, a current political consultant for Martinez, tweeted<\/a> in response, \u201cI guess that makes me another Martinez adversary that got targeted for tax audit, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Albuquerque Journal reported on the sharp increase in audits in August<\/a>. From that article:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number of desk audits \u2013 or letters to taxpayers alerting them of a possible discrepancy in taxes paid \u2013 launched by the agency has skyrocketed, from 666 during the 2011 fiscal year to 17,930 in the budget year that ended in June, according to data provided by the agency.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That has led to an increase in identified money owed to the state \u2013 from $9.5 million during the 2011 fiscal year to $35.1 million last budget year, the Journal reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a complete and utter joke,\u201d Sanchez told NMPolitics.net\u00a0about allegations of retaliation. \u201cIt\u2019s not only provably false, but it shows how desperate political opponents of the governor are and the great lengths they will take to drag her name through the mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The increase in audits, Sanchez said, came from \u201ca computer-generated process, and the formula has identified thousands of people for audits \u2013 including me, the governor\u2019s communications director, as well as other staff members in the administration and those who have worked on her campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Cloutier, TRD spokesman, told NMPolitics.net the increased efforts to collect delinquent tax payments will continue to ramp up through next fiscal year. \u201cOver the years and with automation, we have been better able to identify taxable income to New Mexico,\u201d he said. \u201cWe do this by matching many variables, such as third-party information and information provided by the taxpayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a discrepancy is detected that could indicate underpayment,\u201d TRD sends a letter to the taxpayer, Cloutier said. The taxpayer has 60 days to provide information to explain the discrepancy. Taxpayers are also given the opportunity to self-initiate a \u201cmanaged audit\u201d if they want to check on whether they\u2019ve failed to pay taxes they owed. That\u2019s an opportunity to voluntarily come into compliance, Cloutier said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate this initiative will span 24 months and result in increased compliance and collections,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The explanation\u00a0didn’t convince Deb Haaland, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, that there’s nothing nefarious about the audits coming from the administration of the governor, a Republican.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I speak for a lot of New Mexicans when I say I\u2019m worried about this crisis of leadership we have in New Mexico at the highest levels,\u201d Haaland said in a news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some people who currently work for Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration or political team pushed back against allegations of retaliation, saying they\u2019ve also been audited and pointing to a recent, dramatic increase in efforts to identify uncollected taxes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,107,208],"class_list":["post-98976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-roundhouse","tag-susana-martinez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}