Amnesty may take the roadways in NJ
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
By: Phil Gregory
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Last week, a surprisingly successful tax amnesty program collected over 400 million more dollars than New Jersey officials had expected, and postponed the legislature's budget vote. That success has renewed interest in another amnesty program, this one for deadbeat drivers.
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The Senate Budget Committee has unanimously approved a measure that would allow Garden State motorists who have not paid surcharges for driving violations to pay up without interest or collection costs. The bill's sponsor, Senator Shirley Turner, says there are hundreds of millions of dollars in uncollected surcharges and fees and most of it is not considered collectible.
Turner: Many of these people are driving without drivers licenses because they need a car in order to get back and forth to work and it would provide them with an opportunity to be part of the system again and become whole and clear their records and become law abiding citizens.
If the measure is signed into law, there would be a 60 day amnesty period. The state collected $19 million dollars in a similar program six years ago.