South Carolina’s budget may be extremely tight, but the state is spending $5.5 million to go after more people who owe the state taxes. The state Department of Revenue has hired 90 new full-time employees as auditors and revenue officers. They’re going through orientation at the beginning of this week and then will start training.
State lawmakers gave the agency the money with the hope that the additional collection agents will bring in an additional $100 million in taxes owed.
DOR spokeswoman Adrienne Fairwell says, "No reason for the average taxpayer to be worried that the Department of Revenue is coming to audit and collect on them. Most of South Carolina's taxpayers voluntarily comply with the state's tax laws. The only reason you would have cause for concern is if you are not filing and paying your taxes.”
The state did the same thing last year, spending $2.2 million to hire 60 additional collection agents. Lawmakers hoped they would collect $48 million in additional taxes. They were able to collect $106 million.
"This time around, it's going to be a little bit more difficult to collect because we feel as though we have collected on all of the low-hanging fruit," Fairwell says.
Columbia taxpayer Wayne Kirby says, “I applaud the Department of Revenue for doing that. I applaud our government for letting them have the money to go after the people that really owe the money."
And fellow taxpayer Charles Holloway of Columbia says he’s not worried about additional auditors. “If folks are delinquent, $100 million in taxes, and yeah, if they have to spend $5 million to get it then I think they should because, I mean, is it fair to the rest of us that are paying our taxes and are on time?"
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