Idaho Tax Commission chairman vacates post

BOISE — Idaho Tax Commission Chairman Royce Chigbrow resigned Friday after employees at the agency said he intervened in tax cases involving clients of his son's accounting firm as well as for a friend and political supporter.

Chigbrow told Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter in a hand-delivered letter obtained by The Associated Press that he was resigning "effective immediately."

Chigbrow, appointed by Otter in 2007, said in the letter that "unfortunately, and perhaps unfairly, I have become the issue."

"I know there needs to be a change," Chigbrow said.

Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower was also looking into whether Chigbrow violated disclosure laws by providing confidential taxpayer information to somebody who wasn't entitled to it.

Otter accepted Chigbrow's resignation, without commenting on the concerns raised by Tax Commission employees.

The governor and Chigbrow are longtime Republican allies: Chigbrow has served as Otter's campaign treasurer; now, the chairman's son, Cordell Chigbrow, is Otter's gubernatorial campaign treasurer.

Idaho lawmakers are calling for a reorganization of the Tax Commission. That's after multiple concerns with Chigbrow, as well as a lawsuit alleging that commissioners over the years have given tax breaks to politically connected Idaho residents.

Multiple reviews of separate 2008 complaints by auditors — conducted by the Idaho attorney general's office, an Otter appointee as well as legislators — concluded no laws had been broken, but legislators say reforms now could help restore public confidence that all taxpayers are being treated equally.

Proposed reforms could include splitting up the duties of commissioners, who not only oversee agency employees but also must decide tax protests.