Pennsylvania man pays school property tax — all $7,143 of it — in $1 bills

Fox News ^ | September 08, 2013 | Unknown

[maddog55]

An Easton, Pa. man, frustrated over property taxes, visited the local tax office and paid in dollar bills -- all $7,143 of it. One bill at a time. Local news reports identify the man as Robert Fernandes of Forks Township. The scene, posted on YouTube, has generated more than 15,600 views -- in less than a week. In the video, Fernandes carries a duffel bag filled with bundled bills, which he proceeds to stack on a counter. He brings doughnuts, offered to "anyone who is inconvenienced here today." The tax collector tells Fernandes his protest should probably be directed elsewhere, toward the school board, maybe, which is in charge of setting property tax rates. "I'm not doing this to make anybody's life more difficult," Fernandes tells the collector. "Unfortunately, I wish the same could be said, you know, for me and many others whose lives are more difficult for having to pay property taxes."

[deoetdoctrinae]

[D Rider]

I hate property taxes with a passion. I have no mortgage on my house but I still have to pay rent to the government in the form of property taxes. Why should I have to pay taxes on something just because I own it?

Bwahh Ha Ha Ha, you own it! That's a good one!

[oh8eleven]

I hate property taxes with a passion.
Can't say I disagree, but it's the tax rate I hate, not the actual tax.
For my tax dollars I get street lights, sidewalks, a sewer system, a police force, plowed streets in winter, schools, clean water, a library, etc.
It's the outrageous public employees' salaries and benefits that are killing us.

[Rodamala]

I’d be “old and tired” if I had raised 11 kids!

[central_va]

My county has a loophole. If you live in a trailer on your own land then they tax you at the “unimproved land” rate which is virtually nothing. If you take the wheels off it becomes a permeant structure then the real properties taxes start. I own about 12 acres with a really nice house that I built in 2000. I am going to section off 5 acres and buy the nicest airstream whatever and live in it and sell my primary residence. Never take the wheels off!

[who knows what evil?]

For your tax dollars you get schools that are churning out marxist children by the millions...swell.

[Smokin' Joe]

Note, I said "the most". When I bought my home, before the current price insanity, I paid mid 5-figures for it. The last (annual, now) reassessment raised the value of the property by $500 less than the original purchase price, in one year, with no improvements to the property.

I recently received a notice that the mill levy will be increased by 15% (which, I am assured, "does not necessarily mean an increase in taxes").

If the property was taxed on its purchase price, those of us who have been paying in for a while (decades) keep paying at the same rate, roughly.

The area is growing, fast, and there is a lot of new construction. Property values have skyrocketed, whether or not you want to sell.

The new folks who get the new sewer and water lines, sidewalks, and streets, would pay more, because they paid more for their houses, commensurate with the increase in construction costs for the new infrastructure. Otherwise, those of us in the older part of town are buying infrastructure for people who just moved into houses allegedly worth multiples of what ours are worth, bolstering the value of their property while our streets wait for repairs.

[AppyPappy]

Cute but I would make him count it 6 or 7 times before he got a receipt. And if the office closed during the count, he’d have to start over the next day.

[certrtwngnut]

“The most your home should be taxed is what you paid for it”.
I live in Belvidere N.J. right across from Forks Pa. In Jersey if they kept the tax at what you paid for the house they would just raise the tax rate & you would pay what you are now paying. We are screwed either way.

[outofsalt]

“The tax collector is lucky that it is not all in pennies.”

A roll of pennies weighs 4 oz. so, $1 is half a pound.
He would need a good truck to do it. It would be a hoot though!

[oh8eleven]

LOL ... maybe where you live ... and WTF are YOU doing about it?

[Chode]

i pay Village tax, School tax, Town&County tax, State AND County sales tax, State income tax and Federal income tax...

but the welfare RATS say i'm not paying my Fair share

[Smokin' Joe]

Believe me, I know. Not only was my assessed value increased by nearly the purchase price (in one year without any improvements), but the mill levy is going up by 15% as well.

Why the voters of ND voted down Measure 2 (to eliminate the Property tax) is beyond me, except that there was big (out-of-state) money and a slick (if inaccurate) ad campaign blasting the measure.

[lakecumberlandvet]

Are you now paying property taxes based on the 220? Probably not.

[ridesthemiles]

The key part of this story is that THE SCHOOL BOARD is in charge of setting the property taxes. Thewy have the largest chronic appetite of all.

The same issue is coming to a head in Washoe County in Nevada.

The single person head of the school board would have the authority to set/raise & determine the property tax rates in all of Washoe county. Many homeowners are up in arms over such complete authority.

[over3Owithabrain]

No one “owns” property. You can only keep it if all the government entities and your Home Owners Association are paid off every year...a sobering fact when you are paying off your mortgage.

And if you're paying off your mortgage you don't own it anyway

[who knows what evil?]

I’m outvoted by socialist parents who are comfortable stealing money from other people...you have children in public schools? Then you pay for them...leave the rest of us alone. (Never happen, of course.)

[38special]

We have to pay for the free school breakfast for everybody, haven’t you heard?

[RedMDer]

40+ years ago I was a Ice Cream Man for Good Humor. We didn’t even count pennies then. We weighed them and put them in $20 sacks at the end of the shift. LOL!

[lowbridge]

bump