STOP! READ THIS UPDATE.
I’ve never asked for money on my blog before, but I’ve just been hit with a major financial emergency.
Several months ago, the Alabama Department of Revenue decided I’d underpaid on state taxes from ten years earlier. (I wasn’t aware of having done so, but I don’t have those records any more and so can’t prove otherwise.) After they’d added on interest and late fees, the total due was about $12,000. I submitted a request form to pay it off in installments; they never said yes or no to the request form, but I kept sending in payments and they kept cashing them, which led me to be more sanguine than in retrospect I should have been.
Then suddenly today, without warning or announcement (either from the tax department or from my bank), the tax department completely cleared out my checking account, and my savings account, and my mother’s checking account (I guess because we’re joint on it), leaving me $8000 overdrawn to boot.
I found out the money’d been taken only by checking my balance online today – and I had to go to the bank in person to find out it was a tax levy (the online balance had no information about who’d withdrawn the money).
My college salary doesn’t start up again until September, and I have no relatives from whom to borrow, so here I am with no money (or actually, negative $8000) for food, rent, or bills for the rest of the summer.
I haven’t had a chance to contact either the tax department or a lawyer yet (having spent the afternoon waiting and waiting at my bank), but I’m not exactly optimistic about getting a swift and favourable resolution.
Which is why I am desperately requesting help. If you can help, please let me know whether it’s a gift or a loan, and send either via PayPal:
or to my snailmail address:
Roderick T. Long
402 Martin Ave.
Auburn AL 36849
I’m so sorry this happened to you, Roderick. I will do what I can to help.
Can you still cash checks, receive PayPal? Or will they clear that out too?
Ditto. I’m concerned that cash may be the only cure here. What options might we have on that front?
Can you still cash checks, receive PayPal? Or will they clear that out too?
Well, I’m still trying to find out the details; the bank seemed fairly clueless. If it’s PayPal I think I’ve got a way of getting cash from that.
I’m concerned that cash may be the only cure here. What options might we have on that front?
A money order (either USPS or Western Union) should work ok.
Holy shit! I’ll see what I can do. How in the world did they overdraw that much unless they had arranged it with the bank? Does this mean that your donations will get sucked up paying that back or can you just eat late fees for a while?
I was under the impression (and I’m not a tax attorney) that there was a 3-year statute of limitations on audits and 10-years on collection. But that’s the IRS and not the state of Alabama and, if they are the same, they might have done this because they wanted to get in under the wire.
There’s no possible excuse or justification for this in heaven or on earth. If this isn’t a clerical error it must be six different kinds of illegal. Sue them until they drop dead for lack of will to continue.
I just sent a donation via Paypal. Will you be able to receive it?
Yes. Thanks you!
Shouldn’t a lawyer be able to file an injunction against this action until the matter can be sorted out in court?
Another thing I hope to find out tomorrow.
OMG. I am so sorry to hear this.
Do you have any reason to believe that there are political reasons for this? I have no idea how common these kinds of actions are, but talk about denial of due process, just to start with.
Do you have any reason to believe that there are political reasons for this?
I admit it’s occurred to me. But I’ve also heard that the state has been increasing its audit rate lately and so forth; I have (non-libertarian) friends who’ve gotten squeezed more than usual by the Alabama tax folks. I suspect the state is trying to clamber out of its two financial crises (the state of Alabama had its own crisis a little before the national crisis hit) on the backs of the taxpayers.
This could’ve happened to anyone. I’m sorry to hear it happened to you. I sent a PayPal donation (a gift, not a loan). Perhaps you could check with your university to see if you can get an advance on your salary.
[...] Long is in a jam. Badly. Please help out however you can. Details here. Share [...]
It’s a gift. I can’t afford much right now, so consider it a downpayment. Stay strong!
State tax powers can be crazy, but this seems off the charts to me. I wouldn’t think your bank would be terribly happy about it either. I just sent a bit, and can probably shuffle things so I can again fairly soon.
I PayPalled some help, but can I suggest you set up monthly subscriber buttons for Molinari Institute as Strike-The-Root and Rad Geek have done, so that those of us who want to support your enormous contributions on a steady monthly basis can do so easily?
I will do that — but I don’t pay myself out of Molinari donations.
Of course, but you’ve always had more projects in mind than funds to pay for all of them, and I thought I’d use this moment to kick start the idea that some of us would like to help bring more of your ideas to fruition. I’m sure I’m not the only one here who personally values your movement contributions at least as high as, say, 33 cents a day.
And if you didn’t know it 24 hours ago, you should already know by now that, while you might not be as rich as George Bailey, and none of us might be Sam Wainwright, your balance sheet right now doesn’t look too bad if we put goodwill in the asset section.
Hang in there.
Isn’t the bank just going to seize all this money sent to you via paypal?
I can get paid by PayPal without going through my account. Plus I need to pay down the overdraft in any case.
Man that sucks to read, not just in the abstract but for me personally because I had quite literally the same thing happen. In thier infinite wisdom the IRS a couple of years ago decided I owed them 2500.00. Same as you I made payments, and after I’d paid them nearly 2000.00, they took an additional 2500.00 out of my account without notice or permission. This overdrew me 1500.00 and almost cost me my apartment. I contacted a lawyer but in my case the legal fees involved in going aftr the IRS were higher than the 2500 anyway, so I cut my losses. In your case the amount they took might be worth it. Good luck on fighting these shady bastards, you certainly have my support.
-olly
I take back my previous doubt about the state engaging in direct competition with the mafias. :/
The Mafia’s never given me any trouble yet.
Direct extortion is one of their staples though. Usually the state has to wrap taxation up in mysticism, fog, and forms signed in triplicate, as opposed to just taking what you have.
Well, they may well have had forms signed in triplicate. They just didn’t send any copies my way.
I don’t know who you bank with, but there is a strong possibility that you can reduce the overdraft fees substantially.
I banked with Bank of America for a while, and I accidentally accumulated $200 of overdraft fees in one day. I found a tip online (that has since been removed) that if you call the office of the chairman of Bank of America they will remove your overdraft fees as a one time courtesy from the chairman’s office. It worked like a charm.
Otherwise, I am very sorry to hear about what has happened. I will try to send some money at the end of the week.
Very sorry to hear about all this. (Mine was also a donation). Keep us posted; good luck.
I was under the impression that in order for money to be taken from your checking account, you would first need to have a judgement filed against you.
Perhaps, it’s different being that it’s the state itself.
The bank said today that there was a court order.
However, I never received any notice of a court order.
You should have been served with a notice stating that you were being taken to court.
It sounds like the state was granted a win by default since you weren’t at court.. which, of course, how could you be if you were never notified.
I’ll donate whatever I can.
Donated what I could. Fan of your work and a fellow Auburn grad, class of 08.
Also I work at a call center for a bank, so if you need any advice on how to expediate any process you have to go through with your bank just let me know, I’d be glad to help.
Ah, I see how it is. It’s perfectly alright for the state to ignore any forms you submit to them, but if you miss a form because it was never sent in the first place then it’s your fault. How nice.
Roderick,
That is awful. But it surely could happen to any of us. I will definitely send a donation. Here are some ideas, many or all of which you may have thought of, but just in case. Sometimes it can be easy to overlook things when we’re in the midst of sudden drama or crisis.
• Try to get receipts from the banks for the money that was taken; a paper trail of any kind is always helpful. Note also what if anything your bank statements say anything about the discrepancy between the pre- and post-robbery statements.
• Ask different people at the banks who might know something, which government agents were involved and what they did; how the robbery was specifically effected; you never know what details could be useful in showing how government “procedure” may have been violated, in writing about all this, etc.
• Ask the banks what if anything they did to take your side as a customer. Obviously none of them refused the demand if they wiped out your accounts; but did any of them resist in *any* way? Are they sympathetic with your plight? Will they show it by giving you some money?
• Talk to lawyers about possible representation; you never know if you might find pro-bono or minimal cost help; figure out what steps, if any, you need to take in order to sue the government and/or the banks. (Suing the banks might cause them to be more helpful in exchange for dropping the suit).
• If the banks won’t give you copies of court orders, ask them what they saw on the orders, which personnel specifically read them, etc.
• Publicly name and shame those banks if any which are being unreasonable; write something warning people not to keep money with them
• Seek to be booked on the media, especially sympathetic Internet/radio/TV outlets, e.g. FreeTalkLive.com, Reason TV, etc.
This should indeed serve as a warning to us all about keeping eggs in lots of different nests (they might miss something), keeping more cash and/or gold/silver/etc. on hand or in obscure places, etc.
He should probably have one of his non-libertarian friends get the spotlight, having a self-proclaimed anarchist probably will turn a lot of people off.
That really is quite dreadful – especially leaving you effectively in debt. Shows how careful you have to be with tax records, or risk being subject to arbitrary demands. Certainly sounds like a desperate grab for extra revenue at the expense of a few unfortunate people. I hope you can get somewhere in the legal realm, because if the Alabama state government can do this something is seriously wrong, or at least more wrong than one expects.
It sounds like he was careful. Or at least careful enough that the AL tax collectors were fine with his tax forms for 10 years.
Being government you will be subject to arbitrary demands no matter what.
Sick, sick and triple-sick.
Consider Chapter 7. Seriously. Especially if you have other debt.
I’m in a deepening hole myself since spring. About all I can offer is to help get some advertising running on this site and any others you own, to bring in a wee bit of income.
Tossed a few bucks in the jar. Consider it a payment for all of your podcast lectures I’ve listened to on my commute.
The best argument for smashing the state is the state, and its most eloquent spokesmen are the tax man and the cop.