CHICAGO – Cook County is trying two new methods to go after unpaid taxes and fines.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's office announced the programs Wednesday, predicting they could bring in $4 million to the 2013 budget.
New software will allow the county to identify scofflaw businesses that are unregistered and failing to pay taxes. Another program will use an Illinois tax-refund intercept program to collect unpaid fines for traffic violations and civil court penalties going back seven years.
Preckwinkle said the county should be doing more to protect law-abiding taxpayers by collecting all the money it's owed.
Last year, Preckwinkle launched a program to get businesses not paying required "home rule" taxes to self-register with the county. That initiative brought in $1 million in revenue.
