Almost 600 State Employees Stiff Tax Department

The state has been cracking down for four years

The state has gone after its own employees to collect from hundreds of tax evaders on its payroll.

Over the last four years, almost 600 of the 50,000 state employees did not file their state income tax returns, state officials said.

During the crackdown, the Department of Revenue Services’ Audit Division state sent out bills for almost $3 million in back taxes and arrested one person, the Waterbury Republican American reports. That employee was not convicted.

The state government, like other employers, deducts income taxes from employees' paychecks, but employees must have the correct amount of taxes withheld from their pay and pay the difference when they don't.

The Department of Revenue Services does not plan to reveal who amongst its ranks stiffed the state because of confidentiality rules, spokeswoman Sarah Kaufman said.

She did say, however, that none of the employees cited for being late on taxes work for the tax agency.

Four years ago, the department started looking into which state employees filed tax returns and which did not. This program and others produced more than $17 million from all tax delinquents in the state last fiscal year. 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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