Hart responds to court dismissal of tax appeal

A state legislator from Athol filed a response Monday to a district court's dismissal of his appeal of the state denying him business tax deductions.

Rep. Phil Hart's legal representative Starr Kelso filed the reply, challenging Judge John Mitchell's December order stating that the court didn't have jurisdiction over Hart's appeal.

The reply calls the court's decision premature and based on inaccurate information from the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals, including incorrect records concerning when Hart submitted his appeal and bonds for the appeal.

"The determination made by the IBTA, based upon facts of its own record and their own rules under IDAPA (Idaho Administrative Procedures Act), was clearly erroneous," the document reads.

The document also calls for a hearing over the matter.

Hart had appealed to the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals in 2010 when the state Tax Commission denied him business deductions from a span of multiple years.

The state board ruled that it didn't have jurisdiction over the appeal. In December, Judge Mitchell granted the Tax Commission's motion to dismiss the appeal.

On Monday, Kelso wasn't sure of the total of the business deductions Hart seeks.