Posted on 11/08/2007 5:52:42 AM PST by Reaganesque
I was listening to the radio this morning when I heard of a bill that has been proposed in the Maryland Legislature. House Bill 30 states:
From the summary:
From the bill itself:
(C) (1) THE BALANCE REMAINING ON A GIFT CERTIFICATE SHALL BE PRESUMED TO BE ABANDONED ON THE LATER OF:
(I) THE DATE THAT IS 4 YEARS AFTER THE DATE THE GIFT CERTIFICATE IS PURCHASED; OR
(II) THE DATE THAT IS 1 YEAR AFTER THE DATE OF THE LAST PURCHASE MADE USING THE GIFT CERTIFICATE.
(2) ON OR BEFORE MARCH 1 OF EACH YEAR, A PERSON THAT SELLS OR ISSUES GIFT CERTIFICATES IN THE STATE SHALL REMIT TO THE COMPTROLLER THE BALANCE REMAINING ON EACH GIFT CERTIFICATE THAT WAS PRESUMED ABANDONED DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR.
(3) ON OR BEFORE APRIL 1 OF EACH YEAR, THE COMPTROLLER SHALL DISTRIBUTE THE REVENUES RECEIVED UNDER PARAGRAPH
(2) OF THIS SUBSECTION TO THE MARYLAND EDUCATION FUND ESTABLISHED UNDER § 5–201.1 OF THE EDUCATION ARTICLE.
(Click on "House Bill 30" title at the top of the summary page for the full PDF copy of the bill.)
Uh, doesn’t the revenue belong to the seller? This is outright Marxism.
Thanks for that explanation.
I will pose a hypothetical to you for your take on it?
What if I but a $25 cert. from Mom and Pop store that is non-refundable. Mom and Pop store sells nothing but gizmo X which is sold for $25. Mom and Pop make these gizmos for $1 each plus a lot of time and effort - the rest is their profit. I never use the cert. that I purchased. Can Mom and Pop just send the gizmo I would have had to purchase to the gov.?
bump
This is not new.
Please read the article at Review Journal. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Mar-29-Thu-2007/news/13459608.html
This is a load of horse feathers, but many states are getting in on it.
Who said that the Progressive Liberals aren’t Orwellian?
Sounds like Big Brother is here, thanks to the Dem’s.
Now don’t get smart, Maryland is known as The Free State for a reason, your money is free to tax.
From what you say, existing laws should cover this situation. If so, then I wonder why do the legislators think the need this new law. Any ideas?
Regrets.
I know you don’t like it that I knew something you didn’t and wrote a bang up post about it. Jealousy is an ugly thing.
Nobody dislikes the government as much as I. But I’ve nicely explained the logic and when you pick your battles is this one you really want to fight?
The state does NOT get to keep the money unless no one claims it. The state DOES try to contact the proper owners, I’m sure you’ve seen those ads in the newspapers. Are you so naive as to believe the wonderful, kind-hearted businesses would be jumping through hoops to return the money? Do you really think that BankofAmerica is more deserving of what has to be many millions of dollars of unclaimed funds?
Hey, I don’t think so. I’m not convinced that the government should get to keep it either, I’ll be honest. But again...the government DOES try to find the proper owner and almost 75% of the money is claimed by the rightful owner.
You might suggest legislation that unclaimed funds go to a reputable charity or some such but to make a comment like “ownership not reverting to the state” without offering a solution simply shows lack of thought.
If NOTHING is done with the unclaimed funds...as you seem to be proposing, then the businesses get to keep them. I’m not convinced this is better and I’ve made my case. You don’t have to accept my case but I don’t have to discuss anything with a closed mind.
We shall agree to disagree....
...moving on.
Yep. This is like the magician’s assistant in the low-cut dress and fishnets stepping onto the stage at the moment the magician does his prestidigitation.
Well like I said....I’m thinking that gift cards were never considered “unclaimed property”. I did do those unclaimed property reports for both Delaware and Merryland. I did some for Caleefourkneeya as well.
But the businesses I worked for never had gift cards. I worked at a hospital and we had plenty of unclaimed property. Patients often left their personal effects at the hospital. Do you think the hospital should be allowed to keep them? Sure most times we weren’t talking big bucks but at times someone left a pocketbook, jewelry, a wallet. The hospital most times found the patient to return it but hey, we had to sell it to a wholesale guy and give the proceeds to the state.
Point being it’s a much more complicated thing than this oversimplification headline would allow. Freepers, with the exception of a few, are mostly intelligent people and will read and benefit from the experiences of other Freepers. We are, after all, the people who carry this country on our back whilst raising the children and soldiers of tomorrow. We’ve got common sense out here in la-la land and give me any topic and somewhere in the Freerepublic membership rolls, someone will have experience in the matter.
Yon average American public wouldn’t read my long explanation. I’m not sure I blame them.
I did work for an accounting firm that serviced businesses with gift cards and I remember it being a big damn deal because hey, if Chili’s restaurant has hundreds of thousands of dollars of gift cards out there, that’s one hell of a liability. If a customer comes in and presents a gift card, the restaurant has to serve them food for God’s sake! This is not something a good accountant should overlook. A company on the stock market would probably have to show these liabilities....to not would be to mislead and break the law. Think of Sears...Wal-Mart...I bet they’ve got MILLIONS out there in gift card liabilities.
I do know that the unclaimed property report in Merryland does NOT list unclaimed gift cards (remember, the gift cards have to EXPIRE before they are removed from the books and become an unclaimed property). Those forms try to list the stuff that is considered unclaimed property and my memory is that gift cards aren’t on it. I could be wrong. Don’t hold me to this.
So I’m guessing this is just a way of getting this specifically listed on the form and maybe to make sure all the Merryland businesses understand that they don’t get to keep the money.
One more thing as I’ve bored y’all enough....understand here that these businesses have great flexibility in how they handle this unclaimed property. The hospital could once a year have a flea market, sell the stuff they have unclaimed from patients. They could then donate this to charity. This is perfectly acceptable. The state of Merryland is a steaming liberal hell but trust me, even Merryland doesn’t want to be dealing with all of this crap.
Most businesses do just that kind of thing. My mobile park buddy will fix up the trailer and re-rent it. He might give the new tenants free rent for a couple of months to attract someone and hey, he then can collect rent and write off the three month free rent as a business expense. He rarely sends money into the state but what he does to avoid just that is something that benefits the public in some fashion if only just furthering free enterprise.
Believe me, a business is generally run by smart, happening people. Such as myself as a matter of fact. They figure out a way to keep from giving that money back to the state.
And they do it well.
As soon as the housing market recovers, brother...
To say nothing about registering new voters.
cf: voter registration drive in Greenmount Cemetary.
Except that practice is illegal in a few states, including Connecticut.
“Such a law would violate the United States Constitution.”
So, what’s yer point?
Sounds about right. :)
A blog post on the issue: http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2007/11/08/gift-certificate-rules-burn-small-biz/
“Uh, doesn’t the revenue belong to the seller? This is outright Marxism.”
Yeah, don’t any of the seller’s want to put up a fight for the dough. They could set up a fund for breast cancer or something and run the revenue right into such an account.
At the end of the year they could publicize the contribution and everybody wins; the clerk wouldn’t have to bother asking if I’d like to contribute when I buy my milk, money goes to good cause, good pub for retailer, happy feelings and smiles abound.
This bill is pernicious by definition.
Sooner or later Maryland will pass a law that allows the state to confiscate all of the loose change and pennies on my bedroom dresser and in the coin bin in my car. Not to mention the loose change that falls under the driver seat!
I’m sure the DemonRATS are already thinking about it.
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