Tag: Property Taxes

An Easton, Pa. man, protesting the outrageous amount he is force to pay because of greed, waste and fraud, visited the local tax office and paid his property taxes in one dollar bills.

Most people have the taxes escrowed and do not see how much is stolen from them every year. Land ownership should be a sacred thing. Instead, you simply rent land from the government.

A video uploaded to YouTube ten days ago — which now has over 200k views — purports to show a man paying his $7,143 tax bill in one dollar bills.

The Pennsylvania man, identified by a local newspaper as Robert Fernandes of Forks Township, can be seen in the video carrying a large duffel bag full of bundled cash to his local tax office to pay school property taxes.

The man, whose wife home schools all three of his children, told lehighvalleylive.com he was upset he had to pay school taxes for a district his children don’t attend.

“We don’t even use the public system, yet I am being forced to pay all this money into a public school system,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really either fair or just or even ethical.”

“It would be the equivalent if McDonald’s were to force vegetarians to pay for their cheeseburgers,” he added.

Despite taking donuts offered to “anyone who is inconvenienced” by his gimmick, Fernandes did not appear to be warmly greeted by the tax collector.

The unidentified tax collector told the man his outrage would better be directed at the school board, but Fernandes refused to leave without having his money accepted by the agency.

“I’m not doing this to make anybody’s life more difficult,” Fernandes can be seen telling the collector in the video. “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.”

The collector, who did not want to endure the daunting task of counting each dollar bill, ultimately asked Fernandes if he would be willing to accompany her to the bank so a teller can verify the amount of cash is correct.

Fernandes obliged her request, but noted the irony that the tax collecting agency had trouble collecting his money.

“It’s so much money they can’t count it by hand,” he said. “They are unable to count this large amount of money here.”

After exiting the bank, Fernandes said he was surprised by the way the whole ordeal was handled.

“I”m surprised that they can’t count money,” he said. “I thought that being, you know, that’s what they do — they take people’s money — that they would at least be at least somewhat efficient at counting money. But even the state isn’t efficient at counting money.”

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