Local governments have been cheated out of billions of dollars in tax revenues, with a small number of perpetual scofflaws ripping off fellow citizens for seven-figure amounts, officials said Tuesday.
Maryland published a list of the 50 top individual and business tax offenders Tuesday, a group that collectively owes the state nearly $6 million. They have “essentially told the state to go jump in a lake,” Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot told The Examiner.
Maryland offenders:» Leon Clements, Laurel: $397,787» George A. Taylor, Warner Robins, Ga.: $374,120» Gaetan and Carol Brunetto, Derwood: $264,454Top District offenders:» William M. Sloan: $1.17 million» Septentrion Services Inc.: $601,000» Intelstat Corporation: $564,000Top Virginia
business offenders:» Willis Broadcasting Corp., Norfolk: $173,408» Muggs LLC, Alexandria: $134,878» Food Fanatics Catering Inc., Richmond: $113,625Sources: Maryland Comptroller’s Office, District Tax Office Compliance Administration, Virginia Department of Taxation
The top 25 scofflaws in the District owe about $7.3 million in income, sales and other non-property taxes, officials said.
In Virginia, taxpayers and businesses owed $1.7 billion as of Dec. 31, Department of Taxation spokesman Joel Davison said. That’s well more than half of the commonwealth’s $2.9 billion budget gap.
Franchot said the total owed in Maryland was in the “tens of millions.” D.C. is owed $188 million, according to the Office of Tax and Revenue, a figure that has accumulated over the past decade. Bedell Terry, director of the D.C. tax compliance administration, said his office is chasing down some 200,000 delinquent accounts.
Maryland’s top tax delinquent was Leon Clements of Laurel, according to the comptroller’s office. He owed the state $397,000.
Another local couple, Gaetan Brunetto and his wife, Carol, placed third on the state’s list with a tax bill of $264,454. Reached at his Bethesda insurance office, Brunetto said, “I have an attorney that’s dealing with this. I’m not saying anything.” His attorney declined to comment on the “private matter.”
D.C.’s top delinquent is William M. Sloane, of Northwest, who owes $1.17 million. D.C. has a lien against Sloane’s property, Terry said. Number two on the list is Hyattsville-based trash hauler Septentrion Services Inc., which owes $601,323. Neither Sloane nor Septentrion Services could be reached for comment.
Though many eventually pay up, officials said, the longer they don’t pay, the more likely they are to get away. About $1.4 billion of Virginia’s $1.7 delinquent tax bills are older than 120 days, which are “the most difficult to collect,” Davison said.
D.C. has revised its delinquent list to reflect the write-off of about $24 million in taxes it could not collect from hundreds of taxpayers. Groups such as Jac Thom Enterprises Inc., aka Sarge’s Liquor Post, owed $4.2 million for many years before the District ran out of time to collect — there is a 10-year statute of limitations.
At least one organization was sympathetic with the non-taxpayers. Ryan Ellis, tax policy director for Americans for Tax Reform, said, “A lot of these people are not high-end earners. You have to ask what is wrong with this system that these people couldn’t comply.”
