SAN DIEGO — The California Franchise Tax Board hopes to humiliate debtors into coughing up large amounts of unpaid tax dollars, it was reported Monday.
The board publishes an annual list of the top 250 taxpayers with liened income tax debts that exceed $100,000, including individuals and companies, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. The list went online last month and included San Diegans among those at the top.
Tax collectors have tried different tactics, from sending letters to garnishing wages and seizing vehicles, stocks, bonds, bank accounts and even safe deposit boxes.
These tactics typically net a tiny fraction of what is owed — $10.8 million this year out of the total $249 million as of October — so state lawmakers decided public humiliation might work.
