Sunday, February 08, 2009

California steals from its taxpayers

I visited the Franchise Tax Board's website to check on the status of my state income tax return today. Imagine my surprise to see their reply was "your refund cannot be issued at this time." How would they respond if I owed them money but instead of paying, I told them that their payment cannot be issued at this time? They would charge me penalties and interest.

The Franchise Tax Board passed the buck. They went on to say:
Due to the state's persistent cash and budget problems, the State Controller has directed FTB to stop sending refund requests to the State Controller's Office for payment. Refund payments will resume when the State Controller indicates there is enough cash available to make refund payments.
That excuse is not good enough. If I owed it taxes, the state wouldn't accept a claim by me that I don't have enough cash available to pay them as an excuse. I shouldn't have to accept it from them.

My refund (and I don't call it a "tax" refund because it's not taxes -- it's my earnings) is not the state's money and it never was. I didn't want the state to have my money in the first place. The only reason they have it is because they forced my employer to withhold it from my paychecks.

Since it's not the state's money, the controller shouldn't have spent it. They should have secured it in a trust fund or some kind of escrow account. After all, that's what the state requires of businesses that hold their clients' monies. Apparently, the state does not believe that 'what's good for the goose is good for the gander.' So I won't bother charging the state a penalty for not refunding my money in a timely manner.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will the last taxpayer left in California please turn out the lights?

The Progressive said...

I wrote the State Controller to complain about him ordering the Franchise Tax Board to keep my money. Here was his reply:

"Thank you for contacting State Controller John Chiang’s office. As you are aware, the Controller has announced that in order to preserve cash for education, debt service and other payments that are deemed by the State Constitution, federal law or court rulings as having first claim to available General Fund cash, he will begin delaying, for 30 days, payments to all other programs that are funded out of the State’s depleted General Fund.

"At this time the State Controller’s office will not be issuing IOUs, however the cash management plan does call for delayed payments. This delay in payments will apply to tax refunds that millions of individuals and businesses have earned, expect and deserve. The Controller is aware that not only will the delay in refunds cause significant financial harm to California families, it will delay the economic stimulus expected from consumer spending. Controller Chiang is aware that postponing the payment of tax refunds also will ultimately cost the state tens of millions of dollars in interest payments if those payments are postponed beyond the date prescribed by law.

"The Controller knows this action will hurt thousands of Californians and their families, and he urges the Governor to work with legislators to enact a sensible, solid plan to bridge the $42 billion budget gap and provide cash to get the State through this current crisis. If the Governor and Legislature move quickly to provide sufficient funds in the state’s Treasury, the Controller will be able to resume regular payments."

What is he talking about? It's not General Fund cash; it's my cash! How can he give education and debt service first claim to my money? This is despicable!

Anonymous said...

TAKE THEM TO COURT! The "first claim to general fund cash" NECESSARILY MUST refer to cash in the general fund THAT BELONGS TO THE STATE. It cannot POSSIBLY refer to monies in the general fund that DO NOT belong to the state. It's YOUR money. Period.

Think about it. If they can lay a claim on and utilize for THEIR puposes money that belongs to YOU, and they can do so for the legally irrelevant reason that YOUR money happens to be sitting in THEIR bank account and they haven't returned it to you yet, then there's nothing stopping them from taking MY money out of MY bank account and using it for their purposes.

Get a cutthroat attorney and sue the state for YOUR money, interest, attorney's fees and for the hardship they've caused you.

SUE THE OVER-SPENDING, BLOATED, BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALIST BASTARDS!

They don't have a legal leg to stand on and any judge who says otherwise is undoubtedly a biased, agendized, activist liberal who legislates from the bench and thinks that the law means whatever HE says it means -- and not what it actually means according to any common understanding of plain English.

This reminds me of what a friend of mine, Bill, who until recently was the gov's official photographer -- the Photonator -- said about Kalifornia, to wit: The list of reasons to stay in Kalifornia is getting shorter and shorter.

---Herbertificus

The Progressive said...

Herbertificus, you preacher, me choir. Why do you think I posted this blog? Were it easy, I'd have sued California long ago.

The latest update is that California returned my money to me after they finally passed the budget. That doesn't make the time they detained my money right. But I do have my money, so how can I sue now?

Of course, next year will be another story altogether. Considering the financial straits the State is in, things will be worse than ever.

California Victim said...

I just received a letter from the degenerates that run my bank “Chase” stating that not only had they placed a levy on my account for $3,200.00 but that they had also helped themselves to an additional $150.00 of my money for doing so.

When I asked what this was about they said that the California Tax board had told them to do it and that I could reference the photo copy of the letter they attached. They said that because the name and social security numbers matched so I owe the money even though I didn’t live in California ( I live in Florida) and never lived in the “Tax Payer Address” they listed… They also I added that if it was a mistake they would not return my $150.00 either and I would need to try to get it back from the California Tax Board myself.

Supposedly according to the California Tax Board they waited 16 years to collect interest without prior notice or any form of contact. They just took my money without even verifying if it was valid.

How can this be legal? Do we now live in a tyrannical communist country now?? What ever happened to Due Process???