By a vote of 60 to 30, the House concurred in the Senate’s changes to House Bill 1004 Tax Amnesty (or, if you prefer, the Cheater’s Rights Bill). The bill requires the Department of Revenue to set up a tax amnesty period for taxes due and payable before July 1, 2004. During that period the taxpayer can pay the principal balance only OR set up a payment arrangement “acceptable to the Department”. The amnesty program is to be available during an 8 week period established by the Dept. of Revenue ending not later than July 1, 2006.
I don’t know that this will happen, but from reading the bill, there doesn’t appear to be anything preventing the Department of Revenue from entering into an interest free payment arrangement whereby tax cheats pay their tax obligation at a nominal sum per month for the next hundred years. There also doesn’t seem to be any requirement that the Dept. of Revenue treat all debtors the same with respect to the payment arrangements. Seems like an awful lot of discretion. I hope there is some way to review Dept. of Revenue agreements with specific tax debtors.
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