State tries new tactic in tax collections

By: CHRIS BAGLEY - Staff Writer | Sunday, May 6, 2007 7:41 PM PDT ∞

As a state agency brandishes a new weapon in an effort to collect delinquent sales taxes, six Southwest County business owners find themselves on its most-wanted list.

For the first time, the Board of Equalization has published a list of the businesses owners who owe the most in unpaid sales tax and compounded interest. It includes 227 people and businesses that collectively owe $219 million in sales tax. According to the state, Temecula resident Romeo Hambarsum Mamian owes $3.59 million in unpaid taxes, making him No. 6 on the list. Five other local business people owe a total $2.07 million.

The list ---- along with a similar list of income-tax debtors expected to be published by the Franchise Tax Board in July ---- is the result of a bill authored by former Assemblyman Jerome Horton, D-Inglewood, and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in September. Horton said he introduced the bill in early 2005 after learning that the two state agencies were owed some $3 billion.

"Not only did the (debtors) not want people to know they weren't paying," Horton said last week, "the policing agency didn't want people to know that they were getting away with it. The hammer of the bill is that it tries to embarrass them."

California shoppers pay sales tax of 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent, depending on the city and county. Businesses collect the tax at the register and pass it on to the Board of Equalization monthly or quarterly. The state government hangs onto 6.25 percent of what's on the price tag, while cities and counties receive a 1 percent cut at the end of each calendar quarter. In Riverside County, an extra 0.5 percent funds road construction.

The list of sales taxes and use taxes was published in late April and will be updated every three months, a spokeswoman for the Board of Equalization said. Earlier this year, the agency wrote the businesses that owe the most, warning them that it would publish their names along with the amounts. The spokeswoman, Anita Gore, said at least five of the businesses responded either by paying up or by working out a payment plan with the agency.

About three-quarters of the warnings appear to have been received by the intended debtors, Gore said.

Most of the six local debtors appear to be in the area. Mamian and his wife are still receiving deliveries at their house in the Harveston area of Temecula. He didn't respond to a note left at the house. Lisa's Beauty Supply, the company for which Mamian allegedly owes taxes, couldn't be located.

Ruben Anthony Gonzales owes more than $355,000 stemming from his work for a trailer and portable carport business, according to the Board of Equalization. Gonzales said he was a salesman for the business, but got stuck with a $100,000 debt in 1997, when the owner of the business suddenly died.

The agency charges a 10 percent fee for late payments. Its annual interest rate on the debts has varied from 7 to 12 percent. Allowing for additional fees and periodic compounding of interest, it's plausible that a $100,000 debt may have grown into $355,000; privacy laws prevent the agency from discussing individual cases, Gore said.

Gonzales said the Board of Equalization didn't give his situation a fair hearing. Gore said the agency negotiates with individual debtors, considering their circumstances, including ability to pay. It backs up its position, however, by placing liens on the debtors' personal and business assets, including Gonzales'.

"My wife has often said, 'If you keel over, they're going to take our house,'" he said. "I've let this go and go and go, and I'm kind of glad it has come to this."

Gonzales said he plans to contact a tax attorney to settle the matter.

"Obviously," he said, "I don't want my name on that list."

Then there's Ronnie Montojo Chang, who owes some $430,000 in sales taxes, according to the Board of Equalization. The state didn't say which business was involved, but county records list Chang as a co-owner of SoCal Tan & Spa in Hemet. Chang didn't respond to messages left at the spa or at his house in Murrieta.

Jason Tarnutzer, who has done business as Tarnutzer Toys LLC and Mega Micro, owes nearly $382,000, according to the board. According to state agencies, Tarnutzer has maintained addresses on White Aspen Circle in Menifee and Convoy Street in San Diego. Tarnutzer couldn't be reached for comment last week.

The O'Neil Group Inc. racked up $430,393 in sales- and use-tax debt as owner of Menifee Marketplace, a shopping center on Newport Road. Corporate officer Julius Otto of Pasadena couldn't be reached for comment last week.

According to the Board of Equalization's list, Wine Country resident Jan Weilert owes more than $466,000 to the state for taxes that he collected ---- or should have collected ---- through Temecula Valley RV, LLC, a defunct company that isn't related to a similarly named business still in operation. Weilert made headlines in November when he was arrested and charged with grand theft, a felony.

Prosecutors allege that Weilert, then a salesman at a recreational-vehicle dealership, took at least six motor homes in trades and then broke promises to pay off outstanding loans that were part of the deals. He then allegedly sold the RVs without informing the buyers that loans were still attached to them.

Weilert has pleaded not guilty to all charges; a preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 19.

Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com. Comment at www.californian.com.