Comments on: Florida State Government Creating Libertarians One at a Time

By: Guy Tries To Pay $1.50 In Missed Sales Tax, Gets Threatened With Fines, Criminal Charges | The-Informer

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:51:58 +0000

[...] The Agitator points us to quite a ridiculous story coming out of Florida. An incredibly law-abiding citizen almost got seriously punished for going above and beyond to live up to the law. Apparently he bought some things for personal use at a local hardware store — and then noticed that the store forgot to charge him sales tax on the $23 bill. It was probably because the guy also works for an organization that is tax exempt, and the store just assumed he was buying on that account. Now, most people would think “cool” and move on. But, not this guy. He felt obliged to send in $1.50 and an explanation to Florida’s Dept. of Revenue. [...]

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:26:39 +0000

My mistake–”state” government.

By: MacGregory

MacGregory — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:43:29 +0000

This has happened to me on occasion. The state where I live charges an 11% tax on liquor and a 6% tax on merchandise. I went to buy a bottle of spirits that did not “scan” at the register. The clerk had to manually type in the price but mistakenly put it on the wrong key. So I paid the 6%. I knew it was incorrect but I kept my mouth shut anyway. Sadly though, it isn’t the government that will take the bite on this. It’s the business.
I guess I’m just a bad person, a criminal or un-patriotic perhaps. Please do not shoot my doggy.

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 05:03:31 +0000

Though, lets face it, this man is a lonely and disturbed person, probably spends his days staring out the window guarding his lawn from being stepped on by the neighbor’s kids. As I think “Bob” aptly pointed out above, a payment such as this strains credulity such that the IRS can’t be blamed for, at least initially, misinterpreting the payment. If this experience didn’t get him a pat on the head from the federal government, then at least he probably got some much needed validation from local journalists.

By: GreginOz

GreginOz — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 01:05:08 +0000

You are a bad man, Radley, keep up the bad work! Merry Xmas & a stonking hangover!!!

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:36:12 +0000

Hey, let’s put the government in charge of the whole economy. Government is awesome!

http://rightklik.net

By: perlhaqr

perlhaqr — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:47:10 +0000

Well, I just hope he’s learned his lesson!

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:40:15 +0000

chris k,

My thoughts exactly- the late fees from not responding in a timely manner would’ve resulted in liens being placed on his house or some other nonsense. Of course, correcting this mess would’ve bankrupted him…

Paratrooper said it best- ‘…never invite “the man” into your life.’

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:40:14 +0000

chris k,

Paratrooper said it best- ‘…never invite “the man” into your life.’

By: thomasblair

thomasblair — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:50:04 +0000

Chris K.,

I wish he would have not said a word. Let the government come and arrest him. Let them waste as much resources chasing an obviously innocent man as possible.

No way. They’d have found something – anything – to charge him with. Keep in mind. This is the same criminal organization that charged Dymond Milburn with assault after resisting the aggression of three men who jumped out of a blue van and punched her in the throat.

By: thomasblair

thomasblair — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:45:58 +0000

ClubMedSux,

I love it how government bureaucracy has grown to the point that NOT interfering with private business now qualifies as “going out of its way to ALLOW you to run a business.”

Not bureaucracy. Propaganda.

By: ParatrooperJJ

ParatrooperJJ — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:30:48 +0000

The moral of the story is to never invite “the man” into your life.

By: Highway

Highway — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:25:22 +0000

Isn’t it the case that the state would get their tax money whether or not this guy paid it to them? They basically go over the receipts of the store, and say ‘you owe us this much money’, which they have to pay. Saying “Oh, we forgot to collect it from this guy” doesn’t work.

So basically, his letter to the state is giving them EXTRA money. Like Bob in #5 said: if he wanted the state to get its money, he should have gone back to the store and given it to them. Or more correctly, if he didn’t want the store to have to pay it out of their pocket, for their mistake (in their forced-upon role as tax collectors for the state), he would have gone back to the store.

By: Marty

Marty — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:14:24 +0000

‘Every state in the country goes out of it’s way to ALLOW you to run a business. ‘

unbelievable. I can’t imagine anyone who’s ever started a business typing this…

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:54:23 +0000

Bob:

I actually agree with you that the initial mistake was probably one made when the state employees quickly took and applied the money mechanically. The problem is that this guy tried to correct the problem repeatedly, with no luck, and with escalating threats from the state instead.

I used to represent a business with a few dozen outlets in the City of Chicago in their annual license renewal. There was a fire drill every year getting the papers in order, because the state employees clung so tightly to their routines and were unable to provide any piece of information that wasn’t directly within their scope. I would frequently go from floor to floor to floor collecting pieces of the puzzle until I could get a full answer. By the third year, I was an ace and understood that the 5-people-and-three-visits-to-get-one-answer model was actually a required part of the game.

They say mice have muscle memory that is so wired in that you can remove walls and they will still run and make turns along the old boundaries. That is my experience with state and local government. They know that to get from point A to point B you filll this out and pay that amount and file the other thing in triplicate. No matter how different the circumstances they will work hard to bring it back to those three steps.

By: Chris K.

Chris K. — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:34:27 +0000

I wish he would have not said a word. Let the government come and arrest him. Let them waste as much resources chasing an obviously innocent man as possible.

By: Mike T

Mike T — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:19:20 +0000

In a world less driven by madness, a prosecutor would have called him into his office so that they could have a good laugh after the prosecutor puts the speakerphone on and tells the Department of Revenue to shove its ridiculous charges up its collective ass…

By: ClubMedSux

ClubMedSux — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:51:19 +0000

Every state in the country goes out of it’s way to ALLOW you to run a business. In general, you can just say you’re a business and poof! You’re a sole proprietorship, with your own name as your DBA. If you want to form a corporation? Piece of cake. Most states will even allow you to be CEO, President, and all 3 board officers. Done deal!

I love it how government bureaucracy has grown to the point that NOT interfering with private business now qualifies as “going out of its way to ALLOW you to run a business.”

By: tim

tim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:40:11 +0000

So what I am getting from this story is that in the future when the state government screws up on something – don’t attempt to escalate through appropriate channels – just call their PR department.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:21:49 +0000

Ok… You guys are going to slap me around… again…. for this, but this needs to be pointed out.

As such, it was perfectly reasonable for them to believe the money came from a business. Sending a cover letter like that just makes government MORE expensive to run. What, you think the people opening envelopes and processing data at the revenue center are freakin’ accountants? No! They’re there to process payments as quickly as possible.

Basically, when he remitted his ‘Tax Payment’, he included all the information that was needed… the payment, his Business name and it’s DBA.

What he should have done, if he was really serious about the state getting it’s buck five, was to go back to the store.

Now… if there were 100 business in the state of Florida, and the revenue department was staffed by 3 people… then I would agree that a letter like that should stop work and be corrected immediately. But that kind of exception processing won’t work in the real world, where there are thousands and thousands of businesses and you’re trying to run your processing centers efficiently.