TOPEKA (KSNT) - Fewer than five taxpayers have claimed the alternative fuel tax credit in the last 10 years, according to Kansas auditors.
According to the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit (KSLPA), the alternative fuel tax credit administered through the Department of Commerce offers a credit to encourage alternative fuel vehicles for economic and environmental purposes.
The KSLPA reported that no other state had a credit designed as restrictively as the alternative fuel tax credit and said no literature about it exists. Auditors found the program had been restricted by eliminating taxpayer eligibility in 2012 and eliminating electricity as an eligible fuel in 2007.
"This raises questions as to the usefulness of having this credit in its current form and tracking its use," the KSLPA said in the conclusion of their report.
Another program auditors looked at, the Community Service Tax Credit, had more demand than credit to meet. Since 1994, Commerce has awarded $130 million to 811 projects. During 2023 and 2024 Commerce awarded $8.2m to 62 counties. The KSLPA said Commerce didn't fully document its decisions.
The KSLPA said it reviewed six projects from 2023 and 2024 and found Commerce didn't document its eligibility checks. Auditors also found 'a few risk areas' in the review process but said it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the awards.
"Much of the Department of Commerce’s decision-making process is not documented," the KSLPA concluded. "As such, no one can determine how projects were selected and whether these decisions were objective, which limits public transparency."
Commerce responded to the KSLPA and said "The auditors arbitrarily defined the standard for documentation." KSLPA replied back to Commerce and stood by their conclusions saying "There's an important difference between documenting the outcome of the process and documenting the process itself."
You can read the full audit by clicking here.
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