Kiss that tax refund goodbye if you have unpaid warrants

Think you're getting a tax refund from the State of Wisconsin next year?

Well, think again -- if you owe any outstanding fines and forfeitures. The Racine Police Department is implementing a new program that allows it to seize your tax refund before you get it.

"Through current provisions in the tax code, various debt and delinquent fines can be seized through the Wisconsin Tax Intercept Program. Information contained in the website’s database will be sent to the State of Wisconsin Internal Revenue Service for seizure under the tax intercept program," says the department's press release.

The Police Department is directing citizens to its new website to learn more about the program -- and to check whether they have any unpaid fines or warrants. "In order to avoid delays in receiving a refund, or having the refund absorbed outright, citizens are encouraged to clear any outstanding fines prior to Dec. 31," the department suggests.

So, of course we hied over to the website to see whether all those parking tickets we'd gotten this summer had been paid. Whew! Nothing listed under our name came up. But then the fun began -- although it felt like an invasion of privacy at the same time: You can search the database for anyone's unpaid fines or warrants ... boy, there sure are a lot of them!

A few Smith warrants (first names deliberately obscured)

We started with Smith -- a bunch of Smiths owe $42,312.20, in amounts ranging from $10 (Steven and Margie, seatbelt violations) to $10,000 (Curtis, uttering; Jamie, bj-felony; and Tina, worthless check). Joe and Larry Smith each showed up in the database owing "$0.00" so they needn't be too concerned -- or maybe there are bugs in the system that need to be worked out.

The Joneses couldn't keep up with the Smiths: Joneses only owe $17,735.75.

Better luck with Johnsons: Darrel owes $5,000 on a worthless check charge; Kimberly owes $10,000 for uttering; and Lee owes $5,000 for "theft; bus setng (ho)" whatever that is. None of the SC Johnsons showed up in the list, we were happy to note. Total owed: $33,288.60.

And so it goes, down the alphabet. It'll keep you busy checking your daughter's boyfriends, the noisy neighbors, co-workers ...

This is all part of the Racine Police Department's Keep Racine Sound initiative, which started with www.keepracinesafe.org, launched in June. The site’s homepage features unsolved homicides, and provides readers with options for providing information regarding the crimes.

The website's warrant reduction initiative will permit online payment by summer, and explains how friends or relatives can pay the fines owed by others.