Our Policy Brief Five Keys to Evaluating a Tax System highlights transparency’s importance. A recent article by Cara Griffith in State Tax Notes (“Washington State Falls Short on Transparency,” June 18, 2012) calls out the Department of Revenue for a lack of transparency.

By insisting on keeping the contents of its letter rulings and most written determinations a secret known only to tax administrators, the Washington Department of Revenue is leaving taxpayers with no way to navigate the state’s tax laws, practitioners said.

Washington has been identified as one of only a handful of states that refuse to release their private letter rulings to the public. … But the department’s refusal to release the vast majority of its written determinations may be an even more troubling transparency concern, creating a sense that tax policy is being administered behind a closed curtain and leaving the public unable to discern whether similarly situated taxpayers are being treated as such.

The article is available to subscribers at the State Tax Notes web page.