The Wall Street Journal today had this article: “States Publicize Late Taxpayers’ Names Online: Strapped States Collect Millions In Back Taxes.” The article notes how more and more states are resorting to “cybershame,” that is posting the names of delinquent taxpayers and the amount they owe on a state website, and that the process yields results. One state program called “Caught in the Web” warns on its website: “If you don’t want to see your name posted on our site along with other tax delinquents, be sure to keep up with your tax obligations.” (Yikes! What if they are wrong, though, as government agencies tend to be now and then?) According to the article, the following states either have a form of the program, have tried it or are going to: Louisiana, Connecticut, Minnesota, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, Washington, and Illinois.
On a more positive note, a tax quote from Tax Analysts:
“The United States has a system of taxation by confession. That a people so numerous, scattered and individualistic annually assesses itself with a tax liability, often in highly burdensome amounts, is a reassuring sign of the stability and vitality of our system of self- government. What surprised me in once trying to help administer these laws was not to discover examples of recalcitrance, fraud or self- serving mistakes in reporting, but to discover that such derelictions were so few.” —Robert H. Jackson