Platte County cracks down on tax evasion
Tax forms will arrive in the mail any day now.
At least one county in the area wants residents to know they’re cracking down on those who try to dodge the bill from Uncle Sam.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd announced last week that his office collected $220,000 in back taxes in 2014, an increase over the $215,000 collected the year before.
“No one likes paying taxes, but it’s the price we pay for living in a civilized society, and those who try to avoid paying taxes simply shift the burden to law-abiding citizens,” Mr. Zahnd said. “That’s wrong, and we will continue to go after tax cheats.”
Missouri law allows the Missouri Department of Revenue to work with county prosecutors to collect back taxes from people who either failed to file paperwork, or simply refused to pay the amount owed.
Mr. Zahnd said his office intends to continue its tax collection efforts in 2015.
The same thing happens in counties across the region, so keep a watchful eye for those W-2 forms.
The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office issued a report last week summarizing how it served the residents of the county in 2014.
The sheriff’s office is permitted by the Livingston County commission to have seven full-time deputies and a sheriff to cover all criminal investigations, calls for service, court security and bailiff duties, prisoner needs, civil process service, court orders, sex offender registrations, concealed carry permits, exotic animal registrations and assistance for other agencies.
The sheriff’s office took 572 reports in 2014, up from 530 in 2013. A total of 173 arrests were made, up from 139 the year before, with 1,566 civil processes served, up from 1,529. The county registered 44 sex offenders in 2014, down two from the year before. The number of registered exotic animals in the county remained the same, with 44 monkeys and one ball python. New concealed carry permits totaled 115, down from 156 the year before. Renewals for concealed carry permits dropped to 99, down from 119 the year before. Traffic stops rose to 604 in 2014, compared to 393 the year before, while citations rose to 199 from 74 the year before.
The county’s average daily jail population rose from 36.86 in 2013 to 41.91 in 2014, with inmates housed in the Daviess-DeKalb County Regional Jail in Pattonsburg, Mo. The average population resulted in a $55,274 increase in jail expenses, up from $403,621 in 2013 to $458,895 in 2014.
