Data-matching catches people avoiding fines

One of National’s priorities this term is to responsibly manage the Government’s finances and return to surplus. A new government data-matching initiative has collected more than $16 million in hard-to-catch fines in its first seven months.

The scheme was launched on 16 October 2011, and the amount collected is already more than the $15.6 million targeted for the first year of the initiative. The scheme involves data-matching between Courts, the Inland Revenue Department, and the Ministry of Social Development.

The scheme targets people that haven’t been able to be found by other means. These are people who are able to pay their fines, but deliberately chose not to, and that’s not acceptable.

About 193,000 people who owe fines or reparations have already been identified by the data-matching scheme.

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