Integrated Tax System, Portland, Ore.

Responses by Rachele Gorsegner, business solutions division manager.

What’s the best outcome of your integrated tax system?

I think the best outcome is that now we have a system in place that employs best practices from revenue agencies around the country and around the world, and we can leverage those best practices to do our best at collecting revenue to fund essential services for the City of Portland. It really positions us well to improve our tax administration and it also positions us well to serve the customer, meaning the taxpayer. We have many more channels through which one can file their taxes.

What advice would you give to others looking to create a similar tool?

Really do your research for the solutions that are available on the market. One of my favorite sayings, popularized in my industry by the Federation of Tax Administrators, is “let no good idea go unstolen.” So figure out what is working elsewhere, take that, customize it to where you need it, but be sure to leverage the lessons that have been learned at other jurisdictions, especially in government work. It’s about using taxpayer dollars wisely.

What’s your prediction for 2022?

My prediction for 2022 is that we will be clearly on the downslope of the pandemic and we will be entering a new hybrid work model now that the success of remote work has been overwhelming, especially for government workers, which had not necessarily adopted remote work very much before. Now we’ve got to figure out how to work hybrid, where people are learning to balance schedules both at home and the office. It’s going to be interesting to develop a successful collaborative environment where everyone is in a different mode.