Posted on 04/06/2005 10:26:14 AM PDT by grundle
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/05/eveningnews/main685799.shtml
New Tech Targets Tax Cheats
NEW HAVEN, Conn.
April 5, 2005
(CBS) A few weeks ago, New Haven resident Cara Norman found her son's car being towed from outside her Connecticut home. The reason stunned her. It turns out she owed $37 in back taxes.
"I was furious. I'm going; 'What are you towing it for?' And he said 'Well, you owe back taxes."
As CBS News Correspondent Thalia Assuras reports, in a small but growing number of cities, vehicle tax and parking ticket deadbeats are being nailed by the taxman's new high-tech tool.
"We like it," says Moses Cortez of the Arlington Treasurer's Office in Virginia. "It makes our job a lot easier."
It looks like a radar gun, but it's actually an infrared scanner that reads license plate numbers and then runs them against a computer database of tax and ticket delinquents. If there's a match, it locks in.
"It will read hundreds of plates in a few minutes," says Cortez.
On a recent outing through the streets of Arlington, it only took seven minutes to hit pay dirt. The car was stripped of its plates, booted or towed until the owner pays up.
Arlington County Treasurer Frank O'Leary says it's a cash cow.
"It sure is and we're going to keep doing it," he says. "The cars just jump right out and say, 'Here I am, come and get me.'"
Arlington is reeling in $2,800 of lost revenue a day, already more than paying for the gadget, which cost $2,700.
Authorities in Arlington are so pleased they're now planning to expand their BootFinder operation. They'll soon be chasing scofflaws for everything from unpaid swimming pool fees to, no kidding, overdue library books.
But back in New Haven, which has scored about $600,000 in just six months, people are lining up to pay their bills to avoid getting caught. Lawyer Arthur Machado wants the program shut down.
"You can't even go to Wal-Mart without worrying about being towed," says Machado.
In a complaint, Machado argues the BootFinder system is unconstitutional, an illegal search and seizure.
"It's the government overreaching," says Machado. "It looks a lot to me like Big Brother, 1984, you know, George Orwell."
But until a court gives it the boot, the BootFinder is some cities' money in the bank.
Justice John Marshal said the power to tax is the power to destroy.
We are merely tax slaves. Face it.
I would condone this if and only if the taxpayers can do the same thing to their elected representative's property when said representative is not voting in the public's interest.
When are we, the American public, going to stop allowing our rights to be taken away, and instead exercise those rights?
So they just randomly scan license tags and hope for a hit? Seems illegal to me but I just can't figure out why.
I guess the moral of the story is take your plates off when you leave your car (assuming you're not on public property, where I think you must have plates on).
We are redefining the meaning of private property. The slippery slope of a "living" constitution is getting steeper each day we allow these rulings.
No worries, I'm sure the ACLU will come to these people's defense.
/notholdingbreath
Hello unconstitutional search without probable cause.
4th and 5th Amendments - they can't search without probable cause, which is what these scanners are doing, and they can't force you to testify against yourself, which is what this amounts to in combination with mandatory license plates.
There's not one person in the entire United States of America who knows the entirety of the law. Not one.
"When are we, the American public, going to stop allowing our rights to be taken away, and instead exercise those rights?"
I'd like to know as well.
Perhaps when the total we pay in taxes and fees reaches 75% of what we earn?
The license plates are in the plainview of the ticketing officers.
Makes sense - wonder what the courts will say?
But a license plate in and of itself does not constitute probable cause. I can see the point that there's no actual search of private property involved other than what is in plain view, yet the process seems to be in direct contradiction to the intent of the Amendments referenced in that they were specifically meant to forbid the government from fishing for illegal activities where there is no prior cause to suspect one.
These government entities are becoming illegitimate. When a government entity decides that stealing a $20k to $100k piece of property is justified for a $37.00 overdue book fee, then it has ceased to be anything that remotey qualifies as reasoned governance.
Socialism = Slavery by government..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.