WARREN Probe targets companies that haven't paid tax

Companies that do business in the city are required to register with the city income tax department.
By DENISE DICK
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The city's income tax administrator will meet with an investigator next week to determine if six companies doing business in the city are complying with the law.
Tom Gaffney said Wednesday that his investigator has spent the past three weeks contacting the companies, which are being investigated as part of a probe involving the Trumbull County maintenance department.
An investigator in the city income tax department has been assigned to look into why the six companies haven't been paying city tax. Gaffney said the department has sent business questionnaires to the companies and are awaiting their return.
Gaffney says when he meets with the investigator they will determine what steps to take next.
Kinzua, Envirochemical, State Chemical Manufacturing Co., Lid Chem, Tri-County Supplies and Central Service and Supplies are the companies that received the questionnaires, city officials said.
Questionnaires ask where the business is located, the type of business, how much time sales people spend in the city and other information.
"All cities have a similar questionnaire," Gaffney said.
Companies that do business in the city are required to register with the city income tax department.
Under ordinance
An ordinance that took effect at the beginning of this year requires salesmen who spend more than 12 days a year in Warren to pay the city's 2-percent income tax on salary and commissions earned here. The 2 percent is also due on the net profit out-of-town businesses reap from sales in the city.
Companies may be held liable for the past three years they haven't paid, city officials have said. Failure to pay can result in criminal charges.
A few companies did contact the city income tax department after reading the Vindicator article last month about the six companies, Gaffney said.
The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation have been investigating the companies and the county's purchasing department since a series of Vindicator articles that started in early August. The articles highlighted a pattern of excessive spending and lax record-keeping at the county maintenance department and jail.