Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM January 2019 | Page 16
Taxing Matters
By: Cheryl E. Johnson,
PCC Galveston Co.
Tax Assessor Collector
[email protected]
You may recall hearing about three years ago of the 27
year old Wichita Falls man who was arrested while trying
to pay his property taxes. Mr. Norris arrived at the
courthouse three days ahead of the deadline to pay with
600 tightly folded dollar bills. The tax collector claimed
that work was “brought work to a halt” because it took
nearly six minutes to unfold each bill and told the man to
leave. The man refused, was arrested and charged with
criminal trespass and, obviously unhappy, broke away
from the arresting officer and earned an additional
charge of resisting arrest. Ridiculous (the Texas Tax Code
requires acceptance of cash).
Then there was the Pennsylvania man who, along with his
wife and children, paid $7,143 in one dollar bills, posting
the entire process on YouTube. Mr. Fernandes claimed
his money was being “stolen” since his children are
homeschooled. Maybe the camera kept everyone
reasonable as there was no arrest.
Galveston County had Mr. Denton Smith, a Houstonian
who showed up with a 30 gallon garbage bag full of
5,918 folded and scrunched one dollar bills. There was
no U-Tube video and no arrest. My team simply flattened
and counted for about two hours and happily accepted a
73 cent balance in pennies then presented Mr. Smith
with a receipt, a smile and a Hershey’s kiss!
None will forget Lady Godiva, the icon of taxpayer
freedom who rode naked through the streets of Coventry
so that her husband would lessen her people’s tax
burden OR the Sons of Liberty who concocted the
Boston Tea Party in protest of England’s excessive
taxation OR fictional tax heroes Zorro who stood up
against a cruel Spanish magistrate because of
unreasonable taxation and Robin Hood who stole from
the rich and gave to the poor because of the Sheriff of
Nottingham’s excessive taxes.
Even in Germany, protesters sent shirts along with the tax
check declaring a “shirty” Christmas thanks to high taxes
and, closer to home; Harold Jarvis fought a 17 year battle
for Prop 13 in California. More recently, the country
Too Much
LOVE
witnessed freedom bells ring when the TEA Party
revolution of 2010 swept incumbents out of office
because of government over-and-too-deep-reach into
our pockets.
All in government would be well served to listen to those
footing the bill for government - whether a Wichita
property owner with tightly folded dollar bills, a
Houstonian with a bag of crumpled ones or a
Pennsylvania taxpayer posting his protest on YouTube.
Nobody likes to pay taxes but most dutifully do so,
fulfilling a civic responsibility, hopeful that governments
will spend their money wisely.
Over 70% of Galveston County property owners will wait
until the end of January (read last minute) to pay their
taxes. The too-much-love letter arrived and now the clock
is ticking to pay by January 31. No problem (unless the
USPS postmark is one day late and penalties and interest
are added to the balance) OR if paying via online
banking (and it mails the check days later) or, worse, the
amounts don’t match and you are short (number and
written amount differ and there is no telephone number
on the check for us to call).
You have options. Pay the last week of January (not the
last day) and pay online from the GCTO website (e-check
is the best deal with the least fees), leave the payment in
the yellow (black in Friendswood) Tax Office drop box
located outside of branch offices (note the date on the
envelope because although it is our policy to stamp
envelopes received each morning with the previous date,
your dated envelope helps us help you in the event of
human error) or, better yet, come see us with bags of one
dollar bills, rolls of pennies or simply a check and a
grimace.
As usual, County Tax Office leadership will be in branch
offices helping our teams the last week of December and
January. If you get one of us, expect a Kiss (Hershey
style), a smile and a thank you to accompany that receipt.
We love seeing you even if you don’t love seeing us!
MOMENTUM / January 2019
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