Briefs

By Martin Finucane -- The Associated Press -- April 4, 2004

BOSTON - Tax scofflaws, beware! A pack of digital bloodhounds may be on your trail.

State revenue agencies across the nation are hunting for tax evaders with new high-tech tools: computer programs that mine an increasing number of databases for clues on the finances of people and businesses.

In Massachusetts, for example, the state tax agency can scan a U.S. Customs and Border Protection database of people who paid duties on big-ticket items entering the country - so anyone who fails to pay the state the required 5 percent ``use tax'' gets flagged.

The new tools have reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in increased tax collections, officials say. But the government's growing sophistication at collecting and scrutinizing data about taxpayers is sounding alarms among privacy advocates.

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