From the Tulsa World
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090611_16_A5_OLHMIY12585&archive=yesFirst they encourage all of us to file online and now they want us to pay for the processing. This could be called a processing tax.
The Oklahoma Tax Commission received approval Wednesday to impose a 50-cent fee on returns filed electronically.
About 800,000 Oklahomans file their returns electronically, said Russell Hulin, finance officer for the agency.
The Tax Commission now absorbs the cost of processing those forms, which amounts to about $400,000.
The commission is looking for ways to reduce costs after its budget for the upcoming fiscal year was cut by about $3.5 million, he said.
It's possible that the fee would be unnecessary if the firm that administers the state's Web site can develop a program to process the forms, he said.
Hulin told members of the Internet Application Review Board that the Tax Commission encourages taxpayers to file electronically.
It costs the commission $3 to $5 to process paper forms compared with 50 cents for the electronic forms, he said.