Guy Tries To Pay $1.50 In Missed Sales Tax, Gets Threatened With Fines, Criminal Charges

from the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished dept

Wed, Dec 31st 2008 6:54am — Mike Masnick

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.

You would think that Florida would be thrilled to find such an incredibly honest person. Instead, it sent him an angry letter fining him $50 for failing to file a business tax return. He wrote back, explaining the situation again, noting that it wasn't a business, and he was just making up for the forgotten sales tax charge. The state's response? A demand for $650 in business taxes and a threat of criminal charges. It was only after a local TV news channel contacted the state on the guy's behalf that Florida admitted its mistake. Isn't bureaucracy great?

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Filed Under: florida, sales tax

43 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:22am

Dont be honest with the govertement... Hide fram the govertement.
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:36am
  
  Re:
  But what do we do with all this hidden fram? If we can't let it play with our kids in the street what's the point of all this fram I got for Christmas!
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  - PaulT (profile), 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:40am
    
    Re: Re:
    Not only that, but what's about that govertement? God knows we have enough problems with hiding things from the government without the govertement wanting all my fram!
    
    (@AC #1: spell check is your friend if basic literacy isn't...)
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    - Greg, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:59am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      Beat me to the punch, PaulT. I was wondering if AC was speaking some foreign language there for a minute.
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  - none given, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:07am
    
    Re: Re:
    Are we completely reliant on spell checker?
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    - Me, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:15am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      This guy sure wasn't.
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      - CVPunk, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:42am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Wow. The spelling and grammar police are out in force today.
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        Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 12:29pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Fram the spelling and grammer police! Somebuddy should report them to the govertement!
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        Aru, 4 Jan 2009 @ 12:57am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        lol. nolies! hyys tiepoes ar tuu hawt fore themm!
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:38am

Get the name of the stupid ahole in the Florida Gov and hound he/she/it out of the job. Fill the web with the idiot's name and stupidity so it can never work again.
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Phillip, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:46am

I read the headline and thought: "What?!"

Then I saw "Florida."

Now it makes sense.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:47am

fram the govertement!
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- Jason, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:05am
  
  Re:
  I try to dont all the time.
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Johannes de Silencio, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:51am

Stupid Government
The bureaucracy is a human endeavor. It has its own unique character and its own unique flaws. But all human endeavors are tainted with the flaws of human personality. Coffee shops have brain dead coffee-jerks that fill cups over the brim that spill all over, increasing the spillage with the degree to which coffee-jerks are asked to "leave room for the cream." Cable contractors (or was it fios) burn down houses when installing their service. And then there are the Detriot Lions.

That's why I have initiated a campaign, ala the Star Trek Movie I, to solve that problem. Replace the bureaucrats and coffee-jerks, and well the Detriot Lions, with robots. The humans can all move to Cancun and hit the beach while the robots pay the gas bills.

Bureaucrats are programmed to be removed from illicit incentives of political pressure (think illinois). They can also be removed from licit incentives to do the right thing. There are bad apples. There are bad apples everywhere.

What's more interesting is how, in this post-news media area where newspapers and TV newsrooms are going the way of ENRON, how can the bad apples be exposed. How can Web 2.0 be used to align incentives with the "licit."
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- interval, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:37am
  
  Re: Stupid Government
  Your point, while a bit wordy and somewhat all aver the place, is well taken. It seems like the function of modern government is no longer to serve, but to exist, and expand, and roll over the common man. And serve the rich.
  
  Briefly: A friend of mine got divorced with one child involved. The mother of this child made a little more money than the father, and a judge, following the law, judged AGAINST the mother to the tune of $4 a month. The father didn't bother to collect this money. A few years go by and the state CPS suddenly sent HIM a notice of collection for a few hundred dollars. The mother wasn't exactly sympathetic, but had always been reasonable and had not started the action, especially since it meant she would have been acting against herself. So she did nothing.
  
  After some more years of failing to get that state to understand the judgment was not against him but the mother he finally got in front of another judge who rectified the situation.
  
  I simply have no love for politicians who speak only of expanding government. I hear loads about spending and collecting taxes. I very rarely hear about politicians who speak about reigning in government and spending the taxes they collect more efficiently. Thus, may they all hang.
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drkkgt, 31 Dec 2008 @ 7:53am

love Florida
Love that state. I was born there but have lived in CA for the last ten years. Yesterday, I got a jury summons - from my original home town, to my CA address. The response I get when I called? I need to send a notarized letter proving I don't live in FL any more.
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- interval, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:38am
  
  Re: love Florida
  This is exactly what I'm talking about.
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You never know, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:04am

You know, this is a good reason to bring back the barter system....
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:24am

I will say this now, and if you have any problems deal with it

FUCK FLORIDA!
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Charlie Crist's Fake Tan in a Bottle, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:49am

Low class idiots
Florida is filled with idiots. Perhaps anyone with brains left there years ago. When I visited earlier this year, I was nearly ran over when crossing the street to get to DisneyWorld. It was surreal when 10 minutes later, a friend mentioned that they have the highest insurance rates in the nation...

But this guy who wanted to $1.50 in taxes from the hardware store that didn't charge him needs to get out of the state. He's probably a part of the 2% of people who don't aim for tourists crossing the street.

Then there's the blowhard Rush Limbaugh who preaches from the Florida-based EIB Pulpit every day. Idiots, I tell ya.
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- Pastor of Muppets, 31 Dec 2008 @ 4:51pm
  
  Re: Low class idiots
  Rush Limbaugh preaches for Earned in Blood?
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Hard working guy, 31 Dec 2008 @ 8:52am

This man should have just paid the $50 fine and shut up.

He's just a petty troublemaker. You know it, I know it.
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 1:02pm
  
  Re:
  Why should he pay a fine that was unjustly put upon him? Not everyone has $50 just lying around.
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Alpha Computer, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:12am

Government Worker Still Employed
The guy that felt he needed to give the government the $1.50 should be rewarded with the government employee's job. You don't need government employees who can not grasp the obvious.
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- Cipher-0, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:31am
  
  Re: Government Worker Still Employed
  The guy... should be rewarded with the government employee's job. Why do you hate the guy who was trying to do the right thing so much? ;-)
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 12:06pm
  
  Re: Government Worker Still Employed
  The guy that felt he needed to give the government the $1.50 should be rewarded with the government employee's job.
  Why? hasn't he been abused enough?
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nikita11556, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:33am

FLORIDIOTS
Being a transplanted NYer and having the privilege of dealing with the state, I can certainly see this happening.

THEY DON'T CALL THEM FLORIDIOTS FOR NOTHING!
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nikita11556, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:35am

FLORIDIOTS
Being a transplanted NYer and having the privilege of dealing with the state, I can certainly see this happening.

THEY DON'T CALL THEM FLORIDIOTS FOR NOTHING!
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- interval, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:40am
  
  Re: FLORIDIOTS
  Its not just Florida, read my story further up.
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Josh Martin, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:41am

You can't fix stupid
You can't fix stupid, but you can hire it to work for the government.
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Doc Rings, 31 Dec 2008 @ 9:54am

I've learned a few lessons...
Don't fight the system...even if you see a flaw. The government will let you know if they think you owe them money.

It would have been easier for him to solve this at the original point of sale... Have the store refund & recharge him.

Once the government gets involved, you have awoken a slumbering (idiotic) giant.

This guy probably unintentionally "cost" the government $150 in man-hours, paperwork, postage, filing costs already... just to "save" a buck-fitty.

He has surely learned his lesson...don't try to outsmart the government, even if your conscious says different. You *are* smarter, but they are MUCH bigger, and can impose fines/imprisonment on you...enforceable with guns and threat of personal harm. And have you really helped your family then?
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- interval, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:46am
  
  Re: I've learned a few lessons...
  THAT's the most intelligent comment I've read yet. Don't awaken sleeping giants.
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interval, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:44am

Here's the kicker: "The department of revenue said it's reviewing procedures to determine how this could happen, and how Anderson's letters were ignored."

So what will happen now is that Florida will implement the "fix". That "fix" will in turn fuck over a bunch of other citizens. And the domino effect will cause the state machine to roll over someone else. Maybe an entire town.
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 12:07pm
  
  Re:
  So what will happen now is that Florida will implement the "fix".
  Oh yeah, the same way they fixed the counting of ballots......
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 10:49am

As a native Floridian, I can fully understand the term "Floridiots"....I believe it references all those Northern transplants and tourists who don't comprehend that Disney World is nothing but an overpriced amusement park, not an actual state of being. But that's ok, keep bringing all that money down here...we sure can use it! :)
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 12:19pm

Wait wait. He wasn't trying to "save" $1.50. If he were, he wouldn't have sent in the money in the first place.

He was not trying to outsmart the government, he was trying to do the right thing. Did you not read the article?
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2008 @ 2:05pm

its all the f*ckin republicans down there in florida state government. Those Douche Bags screwed all of us (Bushie) more than you can possibly know.
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Obligatory 1984 Man, 31 Dec 2008 @ 2:08pm

The ministry of truth disagrees.
This guy screwed up. He owed $650 dollars. His calculation of $1.50 based on looking at the receipt was simply a mistake and the receipt will be corrected accordingly. I'm not sure where you got the idea about $50. I think if you check the newscast again, you'll find that there was never any $50 owed, it was always $650 that he owed.

Oceania has always been at war with East Asia.
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John Doe, 1 Jan 2009 @ 1:08am

Florida Government should fire the person responsible!
The Florida government should just fire the person responsible period, no excuse for such a mistake.
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- mobiGeek, 4 Jan 2009 @ 8:58pm
  
  Re: Florida Government should fire the person responsible!
  This is a bureaucracy. There likely is no one individual responsible.
  
  The first person got the letter, filed the 10-91A-BC form, which caused their manager to report to department 14 to cross verify the 19-X was properly filed in triplicate. That in turn caused the mail room to print a 17-C-14 to fax it across to Family Services, which sent out for a paid lunch billed back to the Corrections Department...etcetera...
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Not Big Brothers Fault!, 1 Jan 2009 @ 9:21am

This incredibly law-abiding citizen...
Should have had the common sense to do what most incredibly law-abiding citizens would have done.
Drive back to the Hardware store with the Receipt in hand and given the Clerk the Buck Fifty he owed THEM.
Then they could correct THEIR tax mistake like an incredibly law-abiding small business.

Not kick in the doors at the Supreme Court and try to pay for a penny candy he stole!
He deserves the harassment he got!
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Vic, 5 Jan 2009 @ 9:41am

Aha! The prediction comes true!
Read this report and recalled some old sci-fi story (do not remember the author or the name of it). It sounded ridiculous (although fascinating) at the time but now it makes sense.

In that sci-fi a guy (for in a computerized future) gets a bill in the mail for exactly $0.00. As a normal human he just ignores it and that causes an avalanche of fines for the unpaid bill. The fines grow bigger and bigger and the whole thing ends with a death sentence.

Kudos to the writer!
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doraine hallman, 1 Feb 2009 @ 1:04pm

sales tax
i understand how he feels i am a mother of triplets and have worked night hours cleaning buildings so that i would not have to hire child care or be on welfare i stay up with my children alday. i get a threat from the sales tax people in south dakota i owe them 450.00 dollars i have been in bussiness for 6 yaers and have always paid.they threaten me with crimanal action.if i wanted to take from this state i would just sit home with my triplets and collect welfare but i am not like that.i could have taken more then that just by not working and collect money from the state.some one has to draw the line
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