In Youngstown, RITA stands for Regional Income Tax Agency. The group collects and processes income taxes for the City of Youngstown.
The City of Youngstown farmed out this work a few years ago.
http://ritaohio.com/ (http://ritaohio.com/)
RITA can be a real piece of work. When I lived in Cleveland in the early 90s, they called me in claiming they hadn't received returns for 3 separate years. I luckily had certified mail recpts showing they rcvd them. Anything to try to fine with interest is how they seemed to work back then. Now, I haven't had any trouble filing since they started here, but I'd still keep an eye on it and keep proof for the full 7 years that they can go back through to make false claims.
Oh, and I still had to fight for them to take my proof. I had to take off work 3 different days...as after the first time I proved them wrong wasn't enough, they pulled the stunt again....2 more times. And back then, nothing was done over the phone of by fax.
This same agency cause a lot of grief for my neighbor. RITA claimed he owed income taxes (and fines) for wages that were never earned.
The city should return to collecting its own income taxes.
The burden of proof should always be on the taxing authority to prove that payment was not made, instead of on the taxpayer.