(A) (1) No present or former employee of the county shall intentionally and without authorization inspect or divulge any information acquired by him or her of the affairs of any person, or information regarding the tax schedules, returns or reports required to be filed with the county or other proper officer, or any information produced by a hearing or investigation, insofar as the information may have to do with the affairs of the person’s business.
(2) This prohibition does not extend to information required in prosecutions for making false reports or returns for taxation, or any other infraction of the tax laws, or in any way made a matter of public record, nor does it preclude furnishing any taxpayer or the taxpayer’s properly authorized agent with information respecting his or her own return.
(3) Further, this prohibition does not preclude any employee of the county from testifying in any court, or from introducing as evidence returns or reports filed with the county, in an action for violation of the county tax laws or in any action challenging the county laws.
(B) The county reserves the right to disclose to the Commissioner of Revenue of the commonwealth or his or her duly authorized agent all such information and rights to inspect any of the books and records of the county if the Commissioner of Revenue of the commonwealth grants to the county the reciprocal right to obtain information form the files and records of the state’s Department of Revenue and maintains the privileged character of the information so furnished; provided, further, that, the county may publish statistics based on such information in such a manner as not to reveal data respecting net profits or compensation of any person or business entity.
(C) In addition, the county is empowered to execute similar reciprocity agreements as described in division (B) above with any other taxing entity, should there be a need for exchange of information in order to effect diligent enforcement of this subchapter.
(Ord. 20.220.7, passed 12-22-2020)