During questioning before the House Finance Committee, Tax Commissioner Joe Testa said the state spent $6 million to stop thousands of fake income tax refund requests filed in many states by people who are stealing massive amounts of Social Security numbers.
"You send in your refund request and it's your money and you gotta go take a quiz, find out when your son sold a car or whatever?" Testa said. "Of course that's not a good time. We fully recognize that. What would you have us do?"
Testa said $265 million in false filings were identified in Ohio last year alone. But lawmakers said constituents are telling them the questions about tax issues in their distant pasts are too difficult, and the agency reports getting tens of thousand of phone calls as well.
