Public Employee Press

Finance Dept. loses $8 million in taxi taxes

Comptroller John Liu plans more audits to shine the light on wasteful practices.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The city loses $8 million a year in revenue from taxicabs and other commercial vehicles because of sloppy tax collection practices at the Dept. of Finance, according to Comptroller John C. Liu.

Liu’s office exposed the shortfall in an audit released Feb. 1.

“Eight million dollars is a lot of money to let fall through the cracks, especially when the city is proposing big cutbacks in firehouses, school nurses, libraries and other services.”

Liu issued the audit four days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced spending cuts and 834 layoffs — including about 300 workers at libraries, almost 200 at cultural institutions and over 100 at the Health Dept. — in his $63 billion proposed budget for the year beginning July 1.

The commercial motor vehicle tax brings in $47 million a year. “As we have done with the CMVT, my office will continue to seek additional savings by auditing and improving the efficiency of city agencies,” Liu said.

A team that included members of Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407 did the investigation, which was overseen by Deputy Comptroller H. Tina Kim. The audit blamed the losses on the Dept. of Finance’s failure to carry over balances due from one year to the next and collect them.

Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, who is also the treasurer of DC 37, said the audit demonstrates the need for additional personnel at the Dept. of Finance. From 2002 to 2009, the number of Tax Auditors at the department has fallen from 480 to 239.

Local 1407 activist Yosry Aly, a Tax Auditor 2, estimates that the downsizing and poor tax collection practices initiated by former Finance Commissioner Martha Stark has cost the city as much as $4 billion in uncollected taxes. “The comptroller’s audit is only the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said the audit shows that the Bloomberg administration should address wasteful administrative and spending practices before axing city workers.

“We are encouraged that Comptroller Liu plans more audits to show how the administration can save taxpayers’ dollars,” Roberts said, “and we will keep exposing wasteful spending on consultants and contractors and urging the city to save money by keeping work in-house.”