Three more former Idaho State Tax Commission employees have lent their voices to a legislator’s lawsuit, alleging that the state is giving secret tax breaks to politically connected individuals and companies.

In affadavits filed this week, two retired tax auditors and a former manager of the tax commission put their concerns on the record. Each was with the commission for at least 20 years. They join whistle-blower and former auditor Stan Howland, who filed an affadavit in June.

The affidavits are a key component of a lawsuit filed in June by Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, against the Legislature, the tax commission and its commissioners: Royce Chigbrow, Tom Katsilometes, Sam Haws and David Langhorst. The lawsuit seeks judgment that the current system violates the state’s constitution, and calls for a court order stopping further tax agreements until a constitutional system is established by the Legislature and commission.

In their entirety, the sworn statements from longtime auditors paint a troubling picture of widespread tax-commission compromise and practices of closing agreements in tax disputes — called “C&Cs” — out of the public eye, often for far less than the amount influential individuals and corporations owed.

The Idaho Attorney General’s Office, which is handling the lawsuit for the state, declined comment Friday, as is standard procedure for pending cases.

Robert Chatterton, an auditor for 33 years before retiring in 2006, wrote in an affidavit that the “C&C agreements did not sit well with the auditors for various reasons.”

One case cited by retired auditor Gary Mattox has local ties. Mattox, who retired in 2006, said in his affidavit that a commissioner directed him to close the file on a business audit that turned up $80,000 of owed taxes while he worked out of the Twin Falls office. Mattox doesn’t say when that happened or identify the business.

“The senior auditor noted that the taxpayer had a radio talk show and the culture was that we would compromise cases where political influence was involved,” Mattox said in court filings. “The taxpayer was influential in the Twin Falls area and was influential with the Legislature.”

Mattox describes his former coworkers as “very demoralized about the uneven and inequitable enforcement of the Tax Code.”

“Auditors are reluctant to invest their efforts in the audit of a politically connected and influential company because the end result will be a (C&C) Agreement which generally results in the taxpayer paying less than is owed under a clear reading of the Tax Code and rules and regulations which guide assessments.”

The third new affadavit came from Joe Schwartz, whose 20 years of service with the commission included 18 as manager of its Coeur d’Alene office.

In court filings, Chatterton provided examples without naming the corporations or taxpayers.

When dealing with a Montana company that did business in Idaho, he wrote, he was told to cancel a trip that was planned for an audit because the company had offered $150,000 and assurances that it was the highest amount of contested unpaid taxes. Later, audit paperwork from Montana showed that twice as much would have been owed with an audit.

“Some Tax Commission corporation income audits involve only a few thousand dollars, but other audits have more than $10 million at stake,” Chatterton’s affidavit states. “… I cannot say there have been under-the-table payments for any of these C&Cs, but the possibility certainly exists.”

Ben Botkin may be reached at bbotkin@magicvalley.com or 735-3238.