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 15