ALBANY, N.Y. — District-attorney offices in seven Central New York counties are among 28 offices statewide that will use state-grant funding to help their investigations of state-tax evasion and welfare-fraud cases.
New York state has awarded more than $14 million to prosecutor offices in counties that include Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida, Steuben, Cortland, and Chemung.
The office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the grant funding in a news release issued Thursday.
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Prosecutors in five counties, including Cortland and Chemung, will use the grants for the first time. It was the first time since the program’s inception that all of the state’s 62 district attorneys’ offices could apply for grant funding, Cuomo’s office said.
The remaining 23 offices will use additional funding to “crack down” on individuals and businesses who fail to pay taxes or commit fraud.
The grants come from the state’s Crimes Against Revenue Program (CARP). Proceeds from investigations that result in the return of tax revenues, fines, and restitution to New York provide funding for CARP.
The program has returned more than $165 million to the state since it began in 2004, representing an 81 percent increase over the $91 million in grants provided to district attorneys’ offices during the past decade, Cuomo’s office said.
The grant amounts for the county district-attorney offices include $98,000 for Onondaga; more than $106,000 for Oneida; over $51,000 for Cayuga; more than $22,000 for Madison; over $79,000 for Cortland; more than $80,000 for Chemung; and more than $14,000 for Steuben, according to the governor’s office.
“Our administration will not tolerate people who try to cheat their way out of tax obligations or defraud our welfare system,” Cuomo said in the news release. “People who evade taxes or commit welfare crimes are stealing from hard-working taxpayers. By providing this funding, we’re helping to end this kind of abuse and hold individuals and businesses accountable.”
The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services works with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to administer the program.
The state Taxation and Finance Department serves as the “program expert” by providing technical assistance and helping to identify cases for investigation while the state Division of Criminal Justice Services administers the grant funding, according to Cuomo’s office.
The grants will pay for personnel, including forensic accountants, investigators, and assistant district attorneys, who work to build cases for prosecution.
All taxes, such as sales, excise and income, are subject to these investigations, which can focus on individuals, corporations, or industries and include “complex” financial fraud and tax-evasion schemes by “major criminal enterprises,” Cuomo’s office said.
The funding cycle for the grants aligns with the calendar year.