State tax cheats could get reprieve

Backers hope to generate $10 million for the state through the amnesty.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Those delinquent on their state tax bills could receive a reprieve if a provision offering a state tax amnesty survives in the state budget bill.
Under a provision in the House-passed, two-year $51.3 billion state budget, Ohio's tax commissioner would administer a tax amnesty program from Nov. 1 until Dec. 15. The Senate has not voted on the proposal.
Budget writers hope to generate at least $10 million for state coffers by the maneuver, said Gary Gudmundson, a spokesman for the state Taxation Department.
Under the proposed state spending plan, which is now pending in the GOP-led Ohio Senate, state tax scofflaws would be able to pay their delinquent state taxes, tangible personal property taxes, county and transit authority sales taxes and school-district income taxes during that time and be immune from criminal prosecution and civil penalties.
The provision would cover only the tax delinquents the state doesn't know about, Gudmundson said. It would not cover those with current state tax judgments pending against them, Gudmundson said.
What would happen
Under the bill, if a person pays the full amount of delinquent taxes owed and one-half of any interest that is due on the back taxes, the state tax commissioner would be able to waive any penalties and other-half of interest, according to a legislative analysis of the proposal.
The tax commissioner would be required to issue forms and instructions for the program and publicize it for maximum public awareness, under the provision.
Senate Ways and Means Chairman Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, said majority Senate Republicans are "seriously considering" keeping the provision in the state budget bill the upper chamber is now considering.
"It has its proponents and opponents," Amstutz said of the proposed tax amnesty.
Amstutz said tax amnesties sometimes provide "perverse incentives" if used frequently.
If amnesties are used frequently, they could in some instances cause people to avoid paying state taxes and merely wait for the amnesty, Amstutz said.
According to the state tax department, the last state amnesty was a three-month reprieve offered in late 2001 and ending in mid-January 2002.
The Ohio House passed the two-year spending outlay April 12. Lawmakers must enact the proposed state budget by July 1, under state law.
The current, two-year $48 billion state budget runs through June 30.