Friday, November 26, 2010

Cybershame Post to Be Temporarily Removed

Two days ago I posted about the Indiana Department of Revenue's Cybershame list, where they post online, the names of businesses that have not paid their sales taxes. That list is required by law, by the way.

In that post, I gathered 10 names that caught my eye from over 400 Marion County businesses listed as delinquent. In just two days, two of those have added comments that they are incorrectly on the DOR list.

I am pulling that post so that I can contact DOR about the accuracy of their list and expressly ask about the ten businesses.

I should think that the state law intended that the list be accurate. I'll be back with more information as soon as I can get it.

5 comments:

Paul K. Ogden said...

At the Department of Insurance, we had a list of companies that had been sanctioned by the Department on the website. Much of the information was inaccurate. Also, the original charges were listed as well as the ultimate punishment. Left out was the fact that they might have been found not guilty of that charge or pled to a lesser charge. The website made it look like they were guilty.


I pointed it out to IDOI now IURC Commissioner James Atterholt. He did nothing. When I included it in a memo I wrote where I listed legal violations, Atterholt immediately fired me.

Paul K. Ogden said...

So what I guess I'm saying is I wouldn't be surprised if the list were inaccurate.

Had Enough Indy? said...

Why is it so hard to post accurate information? Surely the Legislature had accuracy somewhere in their thoughts when they crafted the law.

And, IF, the Department of Revenue doesn't know who owns what, then why rely on predictions and budgets?

Paul K. Ogden said...

HEI,

In my example, what they should have done is simply identified the company and then linked to the document disposing of the case. Instead we had a secretary writing it up, often with no oversight.

Had Enough Indy? said...

But, Paul, somebody made the list up. And, when errors were discovered, somebody at or near the top of the food chain in that department, let the errors continue.

Time to put some teeth in these laws or have some way to call these folks on the carpet.