Oregon's Offset Program for Collecting Delinquent Debts Has Been Highly Effective

The State of Oregon has a very successful program for collecting uncontested delinquent debts by keeping State tax refunds as offsets. Significant amounts of money have been collected that would have otherwise been uncollected. At the same time, the rights of the debtors have been protected. In 1979, the State spent about $200,000 to collect over $2.4 million in delinquent debts by offset. In evaluating this program, the possibility of its applicability to the Federal Government was explored.