City Docking Tax Deadbeats' Pay
City will start docking pay November 1st
Ben Franske/Wikimedia Commons
City informs tax-delinquent employees its time to pay up.
Starting this week, hundreds of city workers who’ve failed to pay back taxes will get a notice from the City Controller to either pay up or expect to see less money in their paychecks next month.
The city will distribute the notices to 869 city workers who currently owe $4.8 million to the city, mostly in property taxes, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz said if those employees do not enter into a payment agreement within 30 days, the city will dock up to 20 percent of their check starting November 1.
A 1937 state law allows those workers’ pay to be docked, according to Butkovitz. Workers can, however, appeal their ruling.
Under the controller’s plan, the amount of money withheld would depend on disposable income, which includes overtime but not federal, state, or city taxes or other government-mandated deductions, according to the paper.
More than 1,300 city employees once owed the city but since May, 466 of those staffers have worked out payment plans.
The new payment program could be a win-win situation for tax-delinquent city workers and the city. Butkovitz said 68-percent of employees will pay off their debts in a year or less and the city is expected to collect $2.7 million within five years, according to the paper.
Since March, Mayor Michael Nutter’s administration has aggressively gone after the city’s tax deadbeats. They’ve published a list of delinquent taxpayers and set up an anonymous fraud tip line to collect outstanding debts.
Posted Monday, Sep 28, 2009 - 12:46 PM EST
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