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March 12, 2010

Tax amnesty: Good, bad news | State effort expected to net $190M

Anonymous The Tribune-Democrat Fri Mar 12, 2010, 12:59 PM EST

Who says the people who collect our taxes are heartless?

A tax amnesty program slated to begin April 26 in Pennsylvania will give scofflaws a chance to make things right with the Revenue Department.

But if you’re like us, you have mixed feelings about the program, the first of its kind in the commonwealth for nearly a decade and a half.

On one hand, we want to see people who shun their legal obligations severely penalized. After all, the majority of us diligently turn over our hard-earned dollars to governments we believe to be less-than frugal in using them.

On the other hand, our state treasury is cash-strapped, and the collections from the program are expected to be around $190 million.

That’s not chump change.

And there are actually future benefits involved.

“You get them on the (tax) rolls, you find out where they are,” Drew Crompton told an Associated Press reporter for a story that appeared in this newspaper last Sunday.

Crompton is Senate President Joe Scarnati’s attorney and spokesman, and he helped craft the amnesty legislation.

Here’s how the program works:

During the 54-day amnesty period, all penalties and half the interest will be waived for businesses and individuals who pay off delinquent taxes accrued through June 2009.

It’s based on a 2009 amnesty program in New Jersey, which netted a whopping $725 million during a six-week period.

Does that mean our neighbors to the southeast have nearly four times as many tax cheats as does the Keystone State?

Those of us not particularly fond of amnesty initiatives can take solace in the fact that Pennsylvania’s delinquents still will pay more than they would have had they paid on time.

However, those taxpayers will not be held responsible for taxes due before July 2004 if they supply the Revenue Department with the information it needs to tax them going forward.

No one can say when or if there will be another amnesty program.

We hope not.

Better record keeping and tracking of those who should be paying would make it unnecessary.

It would also make those of us who do pay feel a whole lot better.

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