A word of caution to consumers who are behind on paying their state taxes – the Minnesota Department of Revenue is getting far more efficient at collecting the money it is owed.

Minnesota collected $266.4 million in tax debt this year, according to the Revenue Department. The state still has about $381 million in unpaid tax bills, but that is down roughly $80 ­million from 2012.

Paying taxes and renewing vehicle registrations is a necessary part of American life for most of us, but rarely an enjoyable one. Governments should do what they can to at least make the process as simple as possible for its citizens. This is often easier said than done. However, Arkansas has made great technological strides in recent years to simplify both of these obligations.

Not long ago, our Department of Finance and Administration was processing taxes with 30 different computer systems. Those systems ran on aging mainframes, and some of the work still could only be done on paper.

The city is set to launch a $13.4 million integrated revenue system on June 10 that should be vastly better for the city’s tax collectors and the taxpayers.

The Finnish Tax Administration will introduce a new, comprehensive data system which will replace tens of different taxation-specific data systems currently in use. IBM has submitted a petition for review of the procurement decision with the Market Court of Finland.

The Finnish Tax Administration is renewing its data systems and plans to replace some 70 separate taxation-specific programs with a single commercial off-the-self software solution. The winning software, Gentax by Fast Enterprise, is globally one of the most widely used software solutions for taxation purposes.

State Revenue Commissioner Ed Morgan has a heckuva deal for taxpayers: give him $1, and he’ll turn it into $8, $10, or maybe even $16.

Lawmakers last year took him up on his offer. They gave him the $3.5 million extra he requested to hire more workers, to collect more back taxes, catch more swindlers, cheats and deadbeats. Gov. Phil Bryant, who pushed for the increase, made Morgan write a letter promising the extra money and staff would result in about $10 million more in tax collections.

The British Columbia Ministry of Finance received the 2001 Public Sector Technology Award in the category of Public Value for its work on the CTB21 project. This award recognizes an achievement of particular public benefit related to an innovative advancement in Information Technology Systems Design. CTB21 used Fast Enterprises’ integrated tax processing product, GenTax®, as the foundation for its Taxpayer Administration, Compliance and Service (TACS) system for BC.