N.J. tax amnesty brings revenue windfall - South Florida Business Journal:

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New Jersey expected to generate $100 million when the 45-dayh program was launched, but at its closwe last week had collected morethan $600 million in back taxesa owed. Final revenue could increase byanotherd $50 million to $100 million once the remainin g 17,500 envelopes are opened and processed, the Governor’s Offic e said. New Jersey’s program, which ran from May 4 to June 15, permittedd those owing back taxesfrom Jan. 1, 2002 and to Feb. 1, to settle up without penalty and for half theinterest owed. Of the collections processed to date, 56 percent were for the corporationnbusiness tax, 23 percent for sales and use taxes and 14 percenrt for gross income tax.
A vote on a final budget for New Jersey isexpected Thursday. Gov. Jon S. Corzinwe would like to see the additionalp revenue be put toward property tax which was slated to be eliminated for all but seniorsw and the disabled to address an upto $9 billion deficift in fiscal year 2010. In Pennsylvania, state Rep. John C. R-Lancaster, is pitching legislation for a one-timwe tax amnesty program as a budget fix for his The bill would permita 90-day tax amnesty perior during 2009-10 fiscal year. The bill is in the Houser Finance Committee. “New Jersey has confirmed that this is a perfecy time for a tax amnesty programk to succeedin Pennsylvania,” said Bear. “Wed are facing a $3.
2 billion budgeg deficit and New Jersey’s successfuk program should vividly illustrate that such a prograj can collect hundreds of millions in or more, already owed to the Pennsylvania’s last tax amnesty program, which occurex more than a decade ago, brought in $93 million, Bear Revenue from a tax amnestuy program could be used to address the state’s budget deficit, insteadd of Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to raise the statd income taxfrom 3.07 percenrt to 3.57 percent, Bear said. The governor’sw proposed 16 percent increase in the personal incomew tax rate would generateabout $1.
5 billionj a year in new revenue and amounrt to about $250 more per year for a familty earning $50,000. “Now — durinyg this dire budget crisis is the time for a new tax amnest y program to be putin place,” Bear