Panel rejects audit of Indiana revenue department

Republican members of the State Budget Committee have rejected Democrats' request for an independent audit of the Indiana Department of Revenue for misplacing $320 million.

The panel voted 3-2 along party lines Wednesday to defeat Democrats' request.

Last week, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that state officials had found $320 million in tax revenue that revenue officials had lost track of after it was collected.

That money went untouched even as lawmakers made deep cuts to education and slashed vacant government jobs while the state weathered the Great Recession.

While Daniels downplayed the discovery, Indiana Democrats called for investigations into how an administration sometimes held up by Republicans as a model for fiscal responsibility could misplace so much money.