SPRINGFIELD — For the second consecutive year, low-income Illinois taxpayers who have outstanding fines from the city of Chicago and other municipalities across the state won’t have money taken from their state income tax returns, officials said.

       Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced the extension of the deferral program on Thursday as an acknowledgment that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated financial hardships for the working poor.

       People who qualify for the program will still have to pay those fines and fees when the program ends.

       State Comptroller Susana Mendoza talks with colleagues before the governor’s budget address to a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate, at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield Feb. 19, 2020. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

       “People still have a legal obligation to pay traffic and parking tickets and other fines. Cities can hire private collectors to collect these unpaid obligations,” Mendoza’s office said in a statement. “At this point, the Comptroller’s Office does not expect to extend the suspension beyond this year.”

       Before the pandemic, the office would automatically take fines or fees out of residents’ tax refunds or other state-provided funding. The deferral program includes a moratorium on parking and traffic fines and court dues.

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       The moratorium affected about 50,000 taxpayers last year, and about $18 million in overdue fees and fines that would have otherwise been collected was not taken out of tax refunds, Mendoza’s office said.

       “A year ago, we had hoped the world would be further along in the fight against COVID-19. Unfortunately, we all know that is not the case,” Mendoza said in a statement. “Again this year, families on the financial edge are counting on their state income tax refunds to pay bills they have been putting off as COVID causes hardships.”

       She also said the program has been championed by public interest groups who advocate for families considered “low or moderate” income by the federal earned income tax credit program.

       This year, a family of four earning $57,414 a year or less would qualify for the credit, the comptroller’s office said. Also qualifying would be a single person earning $21,430 a year or less, the office said.

       The state legislature more than a decade ago gave Illinois municipalities the right to contract with the comptroller’s office to withhold unpaid traffic and parking ticket fines, as well as court judgments, from state income tax returns.

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       The comptroller’s office then sends those collections to municipalities, a function that the office already had performed for various state agencies.

       Two years ago, Mendoza announced her office would no longer withhold unpaid red-light camera ticket fines from taxpayers’ income tax refunds. That decision was made due to corruption that was uncovered in the right-light camera industry resulting in indictments and other nefarious disclosures.

       jgorner@chicagotribune.com

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