Two City Businesses Among State's Top Tax Delinquents

Two city businesses — a concrete construction company and a carpeting contractor have made the state’s list of the top tax delinquents in Connecticut.

The state released outstanding income taxpayer account totals in excess of 90 days on Feb. 1.

1397 Newfield St., owes the state $320,651,73 in withholding and Carpet Pro LLC, 58 Ten Acre Road, owes sales and use tax of $128,749.64.

Doug Cartelli is chief executive officer of CCNE, a 17-year-old nationwide business, whose website says CCNE specializes in parking garages, filigree, postension and high rise concrete construction.

Rick and Kathleen Lundell are listed owners of the carpet outfit, which also lists an address on Shunpike Road in Cromwell. Customer reviews on Insider Pages from 2008-2009 offer details and complaints about the couple's work.

Sales and use are the state taxes retailers add to the cost of their products. Retailers under state law must collect the tax at the point of sale and pass it on to the state. Income tax withheld from employees' wages and paid directly to the government by the employer is withholding.

Those who fail to do so can find themselves on the revenue services department’s list of the top 100 tax delinquents.

The state revenue services department publishes online its list of the top 100 business tax delinquents monthly, as well as a list of the top 100 individual tax delinquents, as a form of “public shaming,” intended to encourage delinquents to pay their back taxes, said Sarah E. Kaufman, a spokesman for the department.

“No one wants to be known as a tax delinquent and here’s this public list where people can go online and see if their neighbors or their family is a tax delinquent,” Kaufman said.

The tactic, she added, is used as a last resort and usually is done so only after the state has made countless efforts, over months and sometimes years, to collect the back taxes.

“Generally, we’ve been trying to work with them for some time before they’re put on that list. We understand the implications of having your name on this list, so we want to make sure that we make every effort before we put them on it.”

Everyone on both lists is warned ahead of time, via letter by the revenue services department, that their name will be published if they don’t pay their taxes, Kaufman said. Everyone on the list is at least 90 days behind on their taxes and no one on either list is in bankruptcy, she added.

The top 100 delinquent businesses collectively owe the state $29,272,802.71 in back taxes. The top 100 individual delinquent taxpayers collectively owe $15,677,922.50.