LOS ANGELES : Third of Businesses Found Not Paying License Taxes
More than a third of the businesses in the city of Los Angeles are not paying business license taxes, costing the city treasury an estimated $66 million a year, city Controller Rick Tuttle reported Wednesday.
Tuttle’s office estimated that there are about 66,000 businesses failing to pay the taxes. The controller estimated that the businesses owe an average of about $1,000 each.
Tuttle said in a letter to Mayor Richard Riordan that he supports a proposal to hire outside firms to track down the tax scofflaws--paying a “bounty,” or portion of back taxes they collect. The controller also called for the creation of a single identification number, so the city can check its tax payments against state and federal tax records. He also recommended that the state withhold services, as the city does, from businesses that do not pay taxes.
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