From the Elkhart Truth:
Our elected leaders say the state shortchanges Elkhart County by millions of dollars each year. State lawmakers disagree.
Which, as far as they’re concerned, ends the argument.
To the contrary. We’re just getting started.
Because while you’ve built a $2 billion state surplus, in part with income tax revenue never returned to Elkhart County, we’ve had to start turning county roads back to gravel.
It’s time to start returning our money — all of it — every year. And not just to Elkhart County, to every county.
Indiana employers withhold part of their workers’ pay to cover state and local income taxes, then send the money to the Indiana Department of Revenue. Counties get the money back each spring after workers file their tax returns.
But they only receive part of the money, because some workers — often undocumented immigrants — never file.
How much does the county lose? No one knows; the state does not track how much income tax revenue it receives from a county’s employers.
That’s right. The state cannot document how much tax money it receives from any employer in any county.
What happens next? As Elkhart County Auditor Pauline Graff explained it to a Truth reporter, the money that goes unclaimed “just kind of sits right in the pot over there and kind of makes its way to the state general fund.”
Elkhart County Council President John Letherman estimates that we lose millions to the state each year, pegging it in “the seven-figure range.” County Commissioner Mike Yoder looked at the numbers a few years ago and concluded that we’re losing between $2 million and $4 million a year.
With that kind of money, it’s easy to build a $2 billion surplus.
...
You may want that revenue to pad the state surplus, but we have more important needs. It’s not your money, it’s ours.
And we want it back.
See the full article here:
http://www.etruth.com/article/20130224/NEWS01/702249952
