Briefs

March 10, 2008, LINCOLN. Nebraska added nearly $12.5 million to state coffers during the past three years by making an extra effort to go after delinquent taxpayers.

The crackdown yielded more than $6.7 million in 2007, about $5.3 million the year before and about $425,000 in the effort's first year, according to the Nebraska Department of Revenue.

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The effort has cost a total of $1.05 million for staff and $414,000 for technology. That means every dollar spent has brought in $8.50 in revenue, said Len Sloup, director of operations and administrative services.

More employees mean more audits and more time looking for people and businesses that owe taxes, said Kim Conroy, the department's director of compliance.

A key to success has been combining those additional employees with the data mining operation, Sloup said.

Data mining involves searching and comparing large quantities of information to find patterns and relationships. For the Revenue Department, it has meant looking through lists and databases to find clues that a person or a company might owe taxes.

Dearmont said the operation uses the Revenue Department's taxpayer databases, as well as information from the Internal Revenue Service and the State Department of Labor. It also uses data purchased from InfoUSA, an Omaha marketing and sales-leads company.

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