Investigators are combing neighborhoods to uncover hidden cars, leaving drivers who owe taxes facing mounting bills and unexpected pressure
by Chris Chilton
44 minutes ago
- New Haven is coming down hard on drivers evading car taxes.
- The city has hired sleuths to identify tax cheats and fine them.
- More than 500 unregistered cars have been identified so far.
Death and taxes are the two things that are certain in life. The phrase, famously coined by none other by Benjamin Franklin, still stands true for us mere mortals. Yet, if death is unavoidable, taxes are something lots of people try to evade, with the latest example being as a number of drivers in the United States. Officials in New Haven, Connecticut, realized that a hardcore bunch of renegade drivers aren’t paying their car-related taxes and drafted in a crack team of investigators to help bring them to justice.
The city has hired an external company to analyze tax records and identify cheats. Armed with a list of addresses and license plates, they head out into New Haven neighborhoods trying to spot the offending vehicles, which could be in front of homes or concealed in driveways.
A New Enforcement Strategy
If the team can prove the driver lives in the city but the car isn’t registered, that former will get a tax bill, WFSB reports. And so far, the strategy is working. City regulators claim they’ve already identified over 500 vehicles not currently registered in the area and not paying the taxes owed.
Also: This One Line On Your Tax Return Could Soon Save You Thousands On Your Next Car
Of the 500 drivers connected to those cars, 180 have already admitted they live in New Haven and acknowledged that they need to pay taxes, the city’s mayor told reporters. And those greenbacks have started to roll in. More than $27,000 of new tax revenue has already landed in the city’s bank account, with more to come.
Pushback from Some Drivers
Other drivers identified by the investigative team as potential tax evaders are legally fighting their case, including by arguing that they’re not residents of the city and are so not liable for taxes. City hall says it has no wish to tax drivers who don’t live locally, but has vowed to keep cracking down on cheats in order to collect the rightly owed dues that New Haven needs to continue offering the kind of infrastructure we all take for granted in modern life.
“Taxes pay for all the services that residents tell me they want everyday, whether it’s their streets paved or more teachers in our schools, cops walking the beat in the neighborhoods, taxes pay for those things,” Mayor Justin Elicker told WFSB.
In the end, dodging taxes in New Haven is starting to look less like an useful loophole and more like a losing bet. The message is clear: you hide for a while but sooner or later, the city will find it and send you the bill.
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