Pennsylvania tax amnesty ends at midnight

Governor Rendell says the state has already brought in nearly all of its $190 million goal.

Pennsylvania’s tax amnesty window closes at midnight.

Governor Rendell says the state has already brought in nearly all of its $190 million goal.

Delinquent taxpayers have until midnight to settle debts with no penalty and half the interest.

After that, the state will impose stiffer fines and step up efforts to collect fees.

A series of edgy television commercials has made that threat over the past month.

Governor Rendell defends the ads.

“I like them because they work,” says Rendell. “You know, because we’ve been on almost every national news program, and it’s drawn a lot of attention to them. It’s a little bit like the swift boat ads. What, did they put $200,000 thousand on TV? And they got hundreds of millions of dollars of coverage.”

Rendell says, through Thursday morning, the Revenue Department had collected $180 million, and that more applications were coming in around the clock.

This year’s budget banks on $190 million from the tax amnesty program.

Any revenue beyond that would put a dent in the state’s $1.2 billion deficit.

Watch the tax amnesty ad:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8EjQrrsZIU[/youtube]