Government efforts to crack down on tax delinquents are having a beneficial impact, according to the Auditor General, but his findings reveal there is still a lot of work to be done.

Government is owed $42 million in taxes and pension contributions.

The latest Auditor General annual report publicly outs the employers and land owners who are the most delinquent.

They are singled out in the back pages of the AG’s report if they owe more than $40,000.

Arrears in the area of payroll taxes totalled $10.8m spread among 67 employers, past due pension contributions totalled $2m among 24 employers, and there are 13 land tax payers who meet the $40,000 threshold, leaving the Government short an additional $1.3m.

As you might expect, some names appear on more than one of the aforementioned lists. For example the Hamiltonian Hotel & Island Club is at the very top of all three dubious lists.

According to figures as of March 2006, the Hamiltonian owed $561,854 in payroll taxes, $346,408 in land taxes and $232,357 in pension contributions. To square its debt to Government, the Hamiltonian would have to write a cheque for $1.14m. It’s an unlikely occurrence because the hotel has been closed for years and has been on the AG’s delinquent list for a long time.

Below are top ten delinquents in each area.

Payroll Arrears:

1. Hamiltonian Hotel & Island Club — $561,854

2. Fine Touch Construction & Maintenance Ltd. — $460,474

3. Island E TV Ltd.* — $305,175

4. The Traxel Group Ltd. — $302,953

5. Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. — $272,408

6. Creative Accents Ltd. — $255,860

7. Blumber Crane & Steel Ltd. — $250,523

8. Bermuda Asphalt Ltd. — $250,002

9. Premier Homes — $246,093

10. Sea-Land Construction Co. Ltd. — $243,344

* not on the list of delinquents last yearPension Arrears:<$>

1. Hamiltonian Hotel & Island Club — $232,357

2. Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. — $186,804

3. Beeline Transport Ltd. — $109,327

4. Village Carpentry Ltd. — $99,668

5. Eve’s Group of Bermuda — $72,493

6. Carlton R.N. Ltd. — $70,029

7. Palmetto Palms Seniors Home — $57,401

8. Paget Dry Cleaners (old) #3 — $57,022

9. Steven Smith Construction — $50,502

10. Shabazz Bakery — $50,023Land Tax Arrears<$>:

1. Hamiltonian Hotel & Island Club — $346,408

2. David and Donna Dunkley — $251,943

3. Paul Derrick Smith* — $141,982

4. Tony DaCosta — $117,198

5. Lorenzo and Sonya Caletti — $88,462

6. Philip Abercromby Jones* — $60,531

7. Robert McGlywn — $57,878

8. Longtail Aviation Ltd.* — $56,793

9. Conrad Henry — $54,929

10. The Galleria* — $48,018

* not on the list of delinquents last yearCloser scrutiny of the numbers reveal interesting truths. For example, the explosion of the construction industry in Bermuda does not seem to negate the number of construction firms skipping on their payroll taxes. Of the list of 67 employers owing more than $40,000 To Government at least ten are on the Auditor General’s arrears list.

Payroll Arrears - Construction Fi<$>

1. Fine Touch Construction — $460,474

2. Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. — $272,408

3. Sea-Land Construction Co. Ltd. — $243,344

4. C & N Construction — $241,754

5. Link Contracting Ltd. — $240,470

6. Salisbury Construction Co. Ltd. — $136,143

7. Branches Mini Construction — $130,315

8. Better Homes Construction — $108,436

9. Symonds Construction Company — $76,606

10. Concorde Construction Company — $59,015David and Donna Dunkley are consistently climbing rungs on the list of people in arrears on land tax.

As of last year they owed $251,943 to Government coffers.

David Dunkley is a widely known name because he resigned from the United Bermuda Party not long ago in what many consider the beginning of a three-person high profile political exodus. In 2005 the couple owed $190,523. In 2004 is was $137,798.

At this point the land owner furthest behind in tax payments is the Hamiltonian Hotel.

The Somerset Bridge Recreation Club has trouble paying its payroll taxes.

The arrears total $91,006. The amount is noteworthy because the Sports Minister recently promised $200,000 of Government money to the White Hill sports facility.

If about half of that grant was given back, the club’s debt would be cleared. It’s an unlikely proposition however.

At the time the grant was announced, Minister Randolph Horton said the money would be used to “upgrade their facilities for such things as the addition of changing rooms, improved bathrooms and additional lighting and other structural refurbishment”. He said nothing of payroll taxes.