Friday, May 16, 2008

"Fried Fridays: Our Government $$$ at work"

If there is one thing that causes the heart to race and stress pot to simmer, it's an official letter from the IRS...or, in this case, a city tax assessor. A Michigander doctor recently received one of those letters.

In short, he underpaid the tax bill, and the City Assessor billed him again for the unpaid portion plus a penalty...

DATELINE: BRIGHTON, MICHIGAN

Is this a case of a simple oversight? Is it a case of rich doctor flaunting the bill and paying only what he wanted? Or is this a case of the government taking a stand to collect what is rightfully theirs?

Dr. Phil Kasanji sure got a good laugh out of the whole situation. Dave Gadja, Brighton finance director, says Kasanji doesn't have the right to waive a portion of his taxes.

Clearly the battle line was drawn and ground stood...all for $0.51. Well, technically, it was $0.48, but Gadja slapped on a $0.03 late assessment fee.

The doctor's original tax statement was for $158.48, and he wrote the check for just $158.00. To make sure Kasanji received his notice of delinquency, the Brighton office spent $5.21 on certified mailing fees to deliver the $0.51 bill.

That's pretty much the extent of this rather asinine situation. Doc wrote a check for the balance and immediately dropped it off (which will cost the office another 20-30 cents to process, I'm sure).

This Fried Friday's winner is ripe for commentary, but in this case I think it screams rather loudly all on it's own.


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Enjoy the weekend, y'all!

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