BOISE — Legislation to clarify that Idaho agencies can’t charge sales tax on top of public records copying fees was unanimously approved to be introduced by the Idaho House Revenue & Taxation Committee on Monday.

The bill, proposed by the Idaho State Tax Commission and intended to promote government transparency, would revise Idaho Code 63-3622A, which established the sales tax exemption for official documents. The new bill will simply make it clear that purchasing copies under a public records request should be exempt from sales tax, regardless of whether a fee is set.

“The existing statute exempts documents, the amount of which is set by Idaho code,” said Tom Shaner, tax policy manager for the Idaho State Tax Commission. “What it didn’t cover was if some agency charged for copies by the page. We’re proposing to add a sentence saying there is exempted from the taxes imposed by this chapter the sale, purchase, or use of public records requested.”

Current state law allows agencies to charge actual copying costs for any request larger than 100 pages.

The state Tax Commission proposed the bill after the Pocatello Police Department attempted to charge a Salt Lake City-based public radio station a 6 percent sales tax of $8.75 on top of the cost to reproduce public records last May, prompting controversy.

At the time, Tax Commission spokeswoman Renee Eymann wrote in an email to KUER’s Andrew Becker that the law was unclear and open to interpretation. “The Tax Commission intends to bring legislation next year to clarify in the code that public records aren’t subject to sales tax in the interest of openness and transparency in government,” Eymann wrote.

If passed, the Tax Commission estimated the exemption would cost the state roughly $10,000 — $5,000 from loss of potential tax revenue and an additional $5,000 for mailing costs associated with notifying all state agencies of the change.

“It might be less,” Shaner said. “It’s not likely that it’s more than that.”