Politics & Government
UPDATE: Tax Day Swarm Lighter Than Expected
Arlington County received an estimated $30.7 million in payments on tax day and the three days leading up to it.
“See that man?”
Arlington County Treasurer Francis X. O’Leary held up his watch and motioned toward the counter. It was 3:31 p.m., exactly six minutes since that person entered the line to pay his taxes Wednesday.
“Seeing is believing.”
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O’Leary prides himself on shaving the wait time to pay taxes down to six minutes – particularly during “crunch time,” when taxes are due. He remembers when the wait time was up to five hours and the line stretched for a quarter of a mile back in the early 1980s, before he was elected.
The Treasurer’s Office processed more than 1,400 transactions Monday and another 1,712 on Tuesday. But O’Leary expected the customer count to fall well below the 2,600 anticipated for Wednesday.
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The actual number fell short of the prediction by about 400, according to data released Thursday afternoon.
Still, the office received about $30.7 million in payments on tax day and the three days leading up to it. (See updated chart below.)
Personal property and real estate taxes were due by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Late payments are subject to a 10-percent penalty. The county will wait 15 days before pursuing collection of delinquent taxes.
O’Leary said his office will analyze the payments received to determine if more people are paying their taxes online, over the phone, or at other locations around the county. Payments can be made at banks, for instance, or at a Global Express.
About 90 percent of those who pay taxes in person are immigrants, O’Leary said. Often, this is because immigrants are less likely to have bank accounts, he said. Around his office, tax day is called “la fiesta de la impuestos” – tax festival.
“Anybody who says immigrants don’t pay taxes is full of bologna,” O’Leary said. “Immigrants are very diligent taxpayers.”
During September and October 2010, the Treasurer’s Office processed more than 420,000 transactions.
UPDATE: O'Leary provided the following stats for tax day and the three days leading up to it for this year and 2009. Comparing specific days to 2009 data (rather than 2010) is more accurate, O'Leary stated in an email, because in 2010 a printing error caused the due date to be extended.
The overall traffic spike for September and October on the attached chart should be relatively unaffected by that extension.
Crunch- 2011
Date Transaction Count Payment Total 30-Sep-11 728 2,030,401.52 03-Oct-11 1,441 8,557,287.25 04-Oct-11 1,712 13,675,285.49 05-Oct-11 2,201 6,451,112.73 6,082 $30,714,086.99Crunch- 2009
Date Transaction Count Payment Total 30-Sep-09 1,276 4,722,950.31 01-Oct-09 1,349 6,537,319.17 02-Oct-09 1,892 12,805,237.09 05-Oct-09 2,799 11,769,498.07 7,316 $35,835,004.64Difference
Date Transaction Count Payment Total Due Date - 3 -548 (2,692,548.79) Due Date - 2 92 2,019,968.08 Due Date - 1 -180 870,048.40 Due Date -598 (5,318,385.34) -1,234
(5,120,917.65)
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