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Campbell launches tax-amnesty program
By jeanne starmack
campbell
Tax-amnesty days are starting for people who haven’t paid their city income taxes.
The amnesty program is beginning at a time when income-tax revenues are dropping again, exacerbating the city’s financial crisis.
City Finance Director Sherman Miles recently told the city council that the drop in revenues that leveled off in June started falling again in July. In June, the city was behind $61,000 on what it should have collected for the year. In July, that figure went to $100,000, Miles said.
People who have filed returns but haven’t paid their taxes will be getting notices at the end of this week that they can pay them within a 90-day window — Aug. 16 to Nov. 15 — and avoid penalties and interest, Miles said.
Miles said a tax-subpoena program targeting people who haven’t filed also has begun. Subpoenas were mailed to 300 nonfilers Friday. Miles said the 300 selected are believed to owe the most money.
“It’s a matter of economics,” he said. Subpoenas cost $8 each, he said, so the city is getting the most bang for its buck.
People who are subpoenaed must go to the Youngstown Regional Income Tax Agency office, 20 Federal Plaza West, Suite M14, on Aug. 18 or 19. When they pay their taxes in full, they also will be offered amnesty from penalties and interest.
The only exception to the programs are people that RITA, which collects the taxes for the city, has legal or collection procedures against, Miles said.
Miles said the amnesty program is in the financial-recovery plan, which it is required to have while it is in fiscal emergency.
RITA believes a realistic collection estimate for the tax-amnesty program is $45,000 — 40 percent of $113,484. That’s half the net total it’s trying to collect, which is $226,967, Miles said.
The subpoena program should bring in $8,000, RITA believes. A subpoena program in 2009 netted $26.35 per subpoena, Miles said. Multiplied by 300, that’s nearly $8,000.