Detroit mayor offers tax amnesty plan

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing this afternoon announced details of a tax amnesty program for people and companies that owe income taxes to the city, giving deadbeats until Feb. 22 to pay up without penalty.

People and organizations with outstanding balances from the 2011 tax year and prior years are eligible, the mayor’s office said. The program will begin on Tuesday and last through the February deadline.

“We are encouraging any individual or company that has failed to pay income taxes to the City of Detroit to take advantage of this program,” Bing said. “Now is the time to save money and settle your tax debt with the city.”

Bing officials announced late last year they would set up the amnesty deal. Unions and critics on the City Council had questioned why Bing’s administration wasn’t doing more to collect on unpaid debts to help Detroit battle its way out of chronic deficits that prompted Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint an emergency financial review team to assess Detroit’s fiscal crisis, a move that could lead to deeper state intervention.

Bing’s office said the city expects to raise $4 million through the income tax amnesty program, part of a move the administration believes may ultimately bring in $50 million to city coffers. The city also will move this year to collect on delinquent fees for airport services, solid waste trash collection services, business licenses, personal property taxes on business equipment and parking fines, as well as selling abandoned properties and vehicles.

More details on the program, including how to determine debts owed, will be available at the income tax division of the city’s Finance Department, at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Avenue, Suite 130, Detroit, MI, 48226, also its mailing address. The division’s phone number is 313-224-3315; its hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-noon. on Saturdays.

Information and tax forms are available at www.detroitmi.gov/incometax.

Bing warned that the city will pursue deadbeats who don’t file taxes or pay back debts.

“The city will not be writing off delinquent balances,” Bing said. “After the amnesty period, we will take more aggressive collection actions including providing delinquent reports to credit agencies.”

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