In 2002, the first year of the program, the county collected $5.8 million from 8,700 taxpayers. In 2003, the county collected $13 million from 13,660 taxpayers. Ken Evans, E-government coordinator for Jackson County, announced that the county is already 2,300 payments and $1.8 million ahead of the amounts collected online last year at this time.
Evans said the implementation of the online payment has allowed the county to distribute taxes much quicker to the schools, cities, libraries and other entities the county collects taxes for. He said the county expects to distribute $157.9 million to these entities by Christmas Eve, which is a record amount. The county is about 6 percent ahead of last year in the speed of collecting and distributing taxes.
The service is available at www.jacksongov.org and is free. All you need is a copy of your tax bill and an account at any bank. The transactions are protected and secure.
"Although it is common to charge a nominal fee for such a service, we have decided this should remain free to the taxpayer," said Jackson County Exec utive Katheryn Shields. "We want to encourage as many people as possible to take advantage of this electronic option. It helps make our entire operation more efficient, and it is easy and convenient for the taxpayer."
Shields said the response to the program is far beyond her expectations, and she is very pleased with its success.
Autor: James Dornbrook
Quelle: The Examiner, 21.12.2004
