Swain County officials are interested in hiring a firm to audit private businesses before general statutes change how they are paid. Currently, they charge a percentage of the upaid taxes they recover; new legislation will require them to charge a flat fee.
The horror stories I heard were not pretty,” [State Senator Jim] Davis said. “Some of these businesses get harassed.”
The agencies hired to find unpaid tax revenue would badger innocent business owners until they threw their hands up in frustration and asked how much they needed to pay to get the agency off their back, Davis said, adding that he has not heard about any abuses by such firms in Western North Carolina.
