Bill HullanderHamilton County Trustee Bill Hullander said collecting business taxes on desk chairs, computers, tractors and other personal property can be a bear. And he and other trustees are considering going to the Legislature for help.
As of June 30, there were $2.9 million in unpaid personal property taxes — or personalty taxes — dating back to 2009, according to trustee reports. Portions of that lump sum are owed to the county, the school system and various municipalities. And Hullander said Friday additional back taxes are owed back to 2004, but the older reports could not immediately be generated. Hullander said 99 percent of them were paid.
But at the same time, since 2009, the trustee has collected $82 million. Hullander said they collect nearly all of it, but he’d like to catch the rest.
Three of Hullander’s employees were given kudos last week at the Hamilton County Commission meeting for collecting more than $267,000 of the back taxes by calling businesses in August and September. But there is still $2.7 million left uncollected. And the trustee has little recourse except to call the debtors and ask them to pay up, Hullander said.
“If someone gets behind on their real property tax, we have a tax sale. But on this, we don’t really have any teeth to do something,” Hullander said. “The thing we can do is place a lien on their business, but we haven’t wanted to do that.”