Pitney Bowes is accused of tax delinquency in 18 counties in Arkansas, with some tax bills going back to 2011.
In addition to the state sales tax, Arkansas allows local governments to collect a local option sales tax. According to a report in Arkansas Online, the Stamford-based company owes a total of $42,850 on county-level sales taxes, with unpaid tax bills ranging from $500 in Lonoke County to $10,250 in Union County. Debbie Davis, the tax collector for Cross County, stated she had no success in collecting $4,600 in taxes that have been unpaid since the 2011 tax year, and she has asked local businesses that lease the company”™s machine to help her by contacting Pitney Bowes to get them to pay their tax bill.
The Association of Arkansas Counties has been called in by the localities to help solve the problem, according to Josh Curtis, the group’s governmental affairs director, who added the company has begun to make contact with county tax collectors to resolve their delinquent tax bills. “They’ve been made aware that we’re really, aggressively, trying to collect those taxes,” Curtis said.
Carol Wallace, director of external communications at Pitney Bowes, said the company was working to resolve the situation.
“As we serve our clients in Arkansas, we take our responsibility as a taxpaying business in the state very seriously,” said Wallace in a prepared statement. “We have reached out directly to (Therese O”™Donnell, the tax collector) in Lonoke County and to all counties in Arkansas to quickly and accurately reconcile our status.”
