CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Close to 40,000 businesses in Mecklenburg County are required to pay what's called a privilege license tax every year to fund services like police and fire protection.
A Channel 9 investigation found that hundreds of businesses may be flying under the radar.
The Mecklenburg County Office of the Tax Collector allowed Eyewitness News to ride along with collectors as they used new tools they have this year.
Deputy tax collector Jeff Pettit is on the road nearly every workday, tracking down Mecklenburg County business owners skipping out on their taxes.
He told Channel 9 a janitorial services company, Cox & Guy Enterprise LLC on Briar Creek Road, hasn't paid the required license tax in two years.
Most of this tax collected in Mecklenburg County goes to the city of Charlotte and helps pay for services like police and fire protection and road improvements.
Pettit posts bright yellow notices at homes and businesses to warn business owners they're delinquent.
"It gets people's attention," he said.
At the UPS store on Prosperity Church Road, which is two years behind, Pettit left another notice, and at Zirez web design company in South End, which he said hadn't paid in three years, Pettit was informed that the owner was in India.
"It's hit and miss," he said.
But in North Charlotte, Pettit found business owner Colleen Damon at home.
She said she closed her consulting business, C N D Consulting, two years ago but didn't tell his office, which is required by law. Pettit said she's received multiple notices.
Eyewitness News asked Damon if she received the letters the county sends out twice a year and monthly phone calls.
"I guess I just didn't respond to it as such since I knew I had closed the business," she said. "I didn't owe taxes or at least I didn't think I owed taxes."
Charlotte city officials said last year, these taxes brought in about $17 million dollars.
Neal Dixon, director of the Office of the Tax Collector, estimates about 93 or 94 percent of businesses do pay -- but it's up to his department to track down the ones that don't.
"Even two or three percent unpaid can add up," he said.
"It could be hundreds of thousands?" Eyewitness News asked.
'"It could be, yes," Dixon said.
Dixon's office can garnish owner's bank accounts, issue penalties, and shut down businesses. But this year, he also has new tools.
When collectors are checking on a business, the computer system they use now identifies other businesses in the area that owe taxes.
The county can also now take any state money owed to business owners, like income tax refunds, if they haven't paid up, and it's switched to a new audit company. That company not only looks for businesses that stopped paying, but also helps the county find ones that never got a license in the first place.
Back in the field, Pettit says the most common excuses he hears are that business owners didn't know the taxes were due or never received anything in the mail.
He receives the same answer at Odd Pak Computers.
"We never even got a notice to say we didn't pay 'em," owner Anthony Jemison said.
He said he didn't know he was three years behind on payments.
"You intend to pay now, though?" Eyewitness News asked.
"Oh yeah, of course," he said.
The county said Jemison paid the day after, a big reason why Pettit says despite all their tools, these visits may be one of the best ways to get businesses to pay.
9 Investigates: County uses new tools to collect tax for police, fire protection
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