It’s been six years since delinquent taxpayers in Ohio were given a chance to pay up without penalties. The new state budget gives them another opportunity at the beginning of next year.
Tax Commissioner Joe Testa says amnesty programs like the one that will run Jan. 1 through Feb. 15 give delinquent filers an incentive to come forward, so the state will be in a better financial position overall. Though he says he didn’t talk to lawmakers about this, but he suspects they had another reason for including it in the budget.
“I assume that part of the reason for putting it ... is to help with balancing the budget because as you know, the tax revenues were not meeting estimates much of this last fiscal year.”
The state ended the fiscal year June 30 in the black, but was $849 million short of estimates for tax collections. Ohio’s last tax amnesty program in 2012 brought in $30 million.
