Connecticut's tax commissioner said his agency has unearthed about $85.8 million in uncollected tax revenue.
Kevin Sullivan, who oversees the state's Department of Revenue Services, said Monday that funds were tracked down as part of a challenge from Governor Dannel Malloy and the General Assembly to close the state's so-called tax gap.
That's the amount of tax revenue the state is not collecting and doesn't know about, such as cash-only businesses that avoid paying sales taxes.
Sullivan said the $85.8 million collected exceeds the agency's goal of rounding up $75 million.
The agency was able to find some of the uncollected revenue by using newly available federal tax data. It also refused issuing sales tax permit renewals to delinquent taxpayers, retrained its collection staff and added mobile field audit capabilities.