Tax Amnesty Reaches $200M Goal For State Budget

The Department of Revenue announced Monday that the program raked in the $200 million that lawmakers anticipated to pay for health care services this year.

And the department expects to surpass that after processing all applications received as the amnesty period ended last week.

The program's success will keep lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal from scrambling in the second half of the fiscal year to rebalance the $25.4 billion budget. The amnesty dollars are used in the state's Medicaid program.

From September until Friday, delinquent taxpayers were able to pay their tax bills without any penalties and with only half the interest charges they would otherwise owe on the debt.