Tax Agency to Help Collect Child Support : Enforcement: State Controller Kathleen Connell says the Franchise Tax Board will use its formidable computer resources to make Orange County’s scofflaw parents pay.

The state Franchise Tax Board this week will begin using its clout to help Orange County families collect child support, holding as its trump card the possibility of denying state tax refunds to parents who have shirked their responsibility.

“If we find they have failed to pay their back child support, we will put a hold on their bank account and a hold on any future tax return,” State Controller Kathleen Connell said Saturday.

Connell, who also chairs the Franchise Tax Board, and Orange County Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi have scheduled a press conference in Santa Ana on Monday to announce the teaming up of the two agencies to find delinquent parents and make them pay.

Following surprisingly effective results of a six-county tryout, the Franchise Tax Board is expanding its Child Support Collection Program statewide this year. Orange County is the 15th county to contract with the state for help.

Non-payment of child support has been a growing problem statewide that has forced many families onto state welfare rolls. Statewide, Connell said, there is more than $5 billion in unpaid child support, and the deficit is growing by $350 million a year.

Of the 1.8 million families statewide that have reported unpaid child support to authorities, she said, about 1 million are receiving state aid for dependent children.

In Orange County, the district attorney’s office a year ago was handling 120,000 cases of parents who were not paying child support--a 28% increase from 1993, when it was working on 98,000.

At the current rate, the county will add 20,000 new cases this year. About 95% of the county’s non-paying parents are fathers.

Connell said that the Franchise Tax Board can move more quickly against delinquent parents than the district attorney because it can use its computerized base of statewide data to discover where scofflaws are employed, their wages and where they bank.

Also, she said that while the district attorney must go to court to garnish the wages of non-paying parents, the Franchise Tax Board has “ongoing authority to seize real and personal property.”

She said the Franchise Tax Board can relay the non-paying parent’s Social Security number to all California banks through its computerized network.

“Through our relationship with the banks, we can ask them to freeze the account,” she said.

Just a letter from the Franchise Tax Board is often enough to make a parent compliant, Connell said. “We find usually, when we step in, most will make a settlement agreement if they cannot [immediately] pay all back child support.”

Connell conceded that the Franchise Tax Board’s information network may fail if parents leave California, But, she said, “As long as they are in the state, we are thoroughly effective in getting child support. We are getting almost 100% collection.”

Also, by using computerized data, the state can investigate cases at a fraction of what the county pays to contact sources by telephone and mail, Connell said.

Connell said the state has a large stake in making enforcement of court-ordered child support more effective. Whatever back payments are collected from parents, she said, will be used to reimburse the state for welfare benefits that have been paid for their children.

“We care because we feel very strongly that every dollar we get back is a dollar saved for the state in welfare,” she said.

Moreover, she said, “We think the child support collection program is giving children a chance to avoid a life of poverty and to have the same advantages as their peers who have financial support.”