Greentree sued Central Tax on Wednesday. "Manager David Montz said the company owes the borough at least $30,000 in earned income taxes from 2011 and more than $150,000 in local service taxes."Mary Abbott, tax office manager for Mt. Lebanon and chair of the Southwest Allegheny County Tax Collection Committee, said Centax owed the town more than $1 million in earned income taxes.“It is so sad on so many levels,” Abbott said. “There are so many people who are hurting.”
What is Mt. Lebanon doing about this?
Derelict tax collector Centax to close in six weeks
Update August 23, 2012 1:08 AM From Mary Abbott:
"The Trib mis-quoted me. What I said was the the Allegheny Southwest TCD estimated that Centax owed the entire district $1,000,000. This was an estimate only and the final amount actual not be determined at this time. The amount Mt. Lebanon would be due is a very small portion of that."
Mary
The Trib reporter confirmed this in writing: I figured it out, when I sent it for editing, it was unclear what I was referring to, either the town or the district, so it’s my fault.
It’s been fixed on the Web and we’ll run a correction. Sorry about that.
And again, Mary’s absolutely right, she told me the district, not the town, that’s what I had in my notes.
They better do something---or cut their spending---because many residents have already paid and we have no interest in paying a second time.
ReplyDeleteIf you worked in a municipality or town served by Centrex and your employer paid your earned income taxes to THAT community you personally could be held libel to MTL to cover the undelivered taxes due here.
ReplyDeleteEven though they were withheld. If MtL doesn't get them it's your final responsibility!
This is a mess!
I view this as another argument AGAINST big government. Act 32 required EIT collections to be done by taxing districts that are made up of multiple towns. That's why groups of collectives all had the same outside collector.
ReplyDeleteSome things are better left to the locals.
I would think that the employer is ultimately responsible, since they contracted with Centrax.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Centax, not Centrax. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteElaine
To be clear, I don't get the idea that the article infers that Centax owes Mt. Lebanon $1 million. I get the idea that it owes $1 million collectively to ALL of its clients.
ReplyDeleteThey are way behind on payments. My guess (purely a guess) is that they collected all the money but do not have a good system in place to know where it goes and when. Sounds like they bit off more than they could chew.
Of course, if you follow MF Global or others, I guess I shouldn't assume the best!
12:45 PM, I know what you mean. Abbott's quote is ambiguous. Does "town" mean Mt. Lebanon or the Pittsburgh area?
ReplyDeleteElaine
The employer didn't contract with Centrex, the local taxing authority did.
ReplyDeleteThe employer only submits the required monthly or quarterly deposits to whom they are told to make the payment too.
A business in MtL sends their local withheld taxes to Jordan. If the employee lives in USC it is Jordans responsibility to deliver the employees withheld taxes to USC.
Same as if your employer was in Greentree. The employer would withhold and send your EIT etc. to Centax. Centax is then suppose to deliver them to MtL.
I found out that Lebo had no say in dealing with Centax. We were divided into taxing districts starting January 1. We were assigned to Centax, not knowing if it was through the county or lottery or what.
ReplyDeleteElaine
The problem with Act 32, and this is Harrisburg's fault, is that it gave municipalities the right to collect Earned Income Taxes from anyone WORKING in their jurisdiction. Work in Bethel, you pay EIT to Bethel regardless of where you live.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that example Bethel isn't allowed to KEEP it. Only the municipality in which your primary residence is located is allow to collect EIT from you.
Again, government has too much say. I don't recollect collection problems when we just sent our EIT payments to the municipality.
ReplyDeleteNow I am really confused. According to our website, we shouldn't be affected. http://www.mtlebanon.org/index.aspx?NID=2043 Why would Mary Abbott be saying that?
ReplyDeleteElaine
As an elected official in another municipality said to me, "This [the tax districts] strikes me as another solution to something that wasn't a problem."
ReplyDeleteNo kidding.
The other unmentioned scam in Act 32. These municipalities and tax collectors get your quarterly earned income payments, bank them and don't pay them out promptly or in Centax's case maybe never.
ReplyDeleteAre they or the local community reaping interest on money they are only "holding"? They can't keep it, it's suppose to go to the community where you live. No mention of the interest they might have earned while they hold it though!
Matt Smith are you making sure local government is "working" for us? How about the democratic party?
Raja what are you thoughts? How about your Republican party?
I guess the question I have in my mind is will Mt. Lebanon go after Centax or are they going to sit on their hands like the uncollected parking tickets on the municipal side and the YSA on the SD side?
ReplyDeleteElaine
No, they'll build some more ballfields and float another bond for street paving.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the comment that district collection is a solution to a problem that didn't exist - for the most part, anyway. I do understand the stated premise and rational of Act 32; i.e., it would ensure that towns, municipalities, townships, etc., would receive the EIT that was due them - although I did not at the time think it would be foolproof. In the ages-old game of cat and mouse between the taxman and the taxpayer, there is no perfect solution.
ReplyDeleteAs a business, I pay my EIT to Jordan and my LST (Local Services Tax) directly to Mt. Lebanon. Giving credit where it is due, I always found the Mt. Lebanon tax office to be fair and efficient.
I agree with Mr. Gideon, if there is one department that goes above and beyond it is the MTL Tax Office.
ReplyDeleteThey're are helpful, pleasant, forthright and well managed, far as I can tell. Ask them a question and I've found they'll return promptly with any and all info in their possession that they are allowed to dispense.
Thought we were suppose to hate tax collectors. Just goes to show people can see when government is doing a good job.
Ditto 1:42 p.m.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of politicians messing something up that was working.
I mean, if some communities are having a tough time collecting, then let them join together so they have more clout. BUT DON'T MAKE IT A MANDATE FOR EVERYONE!
4:32 PM, you should have signed your name. Wait, is this Mary Birks?
ReplyDeleteElaine
No Elaine. It sounds more like "Excited" Larry Lebo. He thinks everything is wonderful and exciting in LeboLand, except that we don't have enough immigrants displacing citizens in job openings hereabouts.
ReplyDeleteJust for the record, commending the Mt. Lebanon Tax Office for being fair and efficient is a far cry from an overall endorsement of our local governments. I am simply recognizing a fact: that since governments at all levels require revenues to operate, tax collection is a logical role for a government. If it is more efficient to farm out the collection process then so be it; if it is more efficient to keep the process "in house" then so be it. But it seems to me that creating an intermediary processing layer in the tax collection process creates more problems than it solves.
ReplyDeleteEven we libertarians agree that some government is necessary. But to say that recognizing that our local tax office does a good job is not, in my mind, an "atta boy" for our local governments as a whole. This is particularly true for the District; which qualifies in every way as a government (it has elected representatives, has the binding power to tax and gathers information from ML residents), but is inefficient, sluggish, deceptive, and, like the Municipality, collectivist.
You're all making a mistake in assuming local governments are "owed" the EIT. Another government scam. Our state is so backwards and anitquated. In other parts of the country, they govern on a county-wide scale. Seems to work pretty well.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't hold your breath for Matt the Wonderboy Smith or D. Deep Pockets Raja to provide any opinion. They're both content to hide until a few weeks before the eleciton. Wish someone in the area with some ideas and character would step up. Too late though.