Incorrect notices demand money from timely taxpayers
By Kristen Consillio, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"This is not the first time we're getting erroneous billing information. It happened several years ago and was never fully corrected," said state Sen.
In one case a resident paid state income taxes on the
In another instance,
"She was nervous as hell. She's a pretty innocent lady," Oshima said. "She was really, really disturbed. She thought she had done something wrong. She really thought she messed up and had to pay a double tax."
When asked why inaccurate notices were sent to taxpayers, the agency could not immediately reply.
Asked what the department is doing to fix the problem, Fujitani said, "We are still reviewing the process with the staff regarding what may have occurred."
Oshima, the CPA whose client got an incorrect bill, said the
The state paid
"The life cycle of (these) systems isn't extremely long," Fujitani said. "There's a lot of inflexibility in the current system."
The erroneous balance-due notices are adding to an already overburdened call center at the
The notices include a line saying taxpayers should call the
The department has 10 operators in its call center, Fujitani said. "(We have) more calls than we can handle."
The lengthy process of updating the
But three years later a contractor still hasn't been selected. The department's request for bids was scheduled to close Thursday but has been postponed until
"This is not the kind of system we want to rush through development on," Fujitani said. "We want to make sure we address most of our issues before we get a vendor on board."
This isn't the state's first mailing blunder.
At least 4,582 Quest families received erroneous notices stating their health insurance coverage would end last month, resulting in hundreds of recipients flooding the state
The month before, the state
So far the state has allocated
In 2010 former state Auditor
The "tax processing system does not have a cash control account, and thus bank reconciliations cannot be performed and the state revenues collected cannot be verified," she wrote in an audit.
Despite its troubles with the state, CGI, one of the world's largest information technology firms, won a four-year contract costing more than
The Hawai'i Health Connector failed to launch at the start of the sign-up period on
CGI also has had problems with its technology in other states.
"We've spent millions and millions on websites and computer hardware and software, and we certainly have not got the bang for our buck," Slom said. "There's no consequences for bad behavior by government. All we do is waste more money, and it's not their money, it's the taxpayers' money. With the economy the way it is, people struggling -- individuals and businesses -- we cannot afford to do this."
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