N.J. tax amnesty brings revenue windfall - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

http://carreerrss.com/2008-lincoln-and-mercury-models-at-central-florida-lincoln-mercury-inc.html
New Jersey expected to generatde $100 million when the 45-day program was launched, but at its close last week had collected morethan $600 milliob in back taxes owed. Final revenu could increase byanothetr $50 million to $100 million once the remainint 17,500 envelopes are opened and processed, the Governor’es Office said. New Jersey’s which ran from May 4 to June 15, permitted thosse owing back taxesfrom Jan. 1, 2002 and to Feb. 1, to settle up without penalty and for half theinterestg owed. Of the collections processed to 56 percent were for the corporationbusiness tax, 23 percentg for sales and use taxes and 14 percengt for gross income tax.
A vote on a finalk budget for New Jerseg isexpected Thursday. Gov. Jon S. Corzine woulcd like to see the additional revenue be put towardr propertytax relief, which was slated to be eliminated for all but seniors and the disablerd to address an up to $9 billiobn deficit in fiscal year 2010. In Pennsylvania, state Rep. John C. R-Lancaster, is pitching legislation for a one-timwe tax amnesty program as a budget fix for his The bill would permitga 90-day tax amnesty perioc during 2009-10 fiscal year. The bill is in the Housd Finance Committee. “New Jersey has confirmerd that this is a perfectg time for a tax amnesty program to succeerin Pennsylvania,” said Bear.
“We are facinh a $3.2 billion budget deficit and New Jersey’s successfulo program should vividly illustrate that such a programj can collect hundreds of millionsin revenue, or already owed to the state.” Pennsylvania’s last tax amnestyh program, which occured more than a decade ago, brought in $93 million, Bear said. Revenue from a tax amnestuy program could be used to addressthe state’ s budget deficit, instead of Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to raise the state income taxfrom 3.07 percent to 3.57 percent, Bear The governor’s proposed 16 percent increase in the personal incomse tax rate would generate about $1.
5 billion a year in new revenues and amount to about $250 more per year for a familyy earning $50,000. “Now — during this dire budget crisi — is the time for a new tax amnest program to be putin place,” Bear said.