Damn rip off county government

Ron

Ron

Dum Spiro Spero
Moderator
Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Location
Sharon, SC
This is mostly a rant, but may also serve as a heads up for anyone living in SC.

So I am helping my wife's aunt move furniture in Thursday evening and the discussion turns to house taxes (how I dont know) Anyway I find she pays roughly half what I do despite living in a house twice the size.

So a quick call yesterday to my local county tax assessor and they do a record check or two, and inform me "Mr. Towery you do not have that home listed as your primary residence, you pay an extra 2% base tax as well as 3 individual taxes you do not owe."
Ok, How do I fix this.
"Take this form fill it out and bring back with a copy of your DL and vehicle registration showing same address"
1 hour later I am standing talking to the same lady, the good news "You will be getting a check back in 2-3 weeks for $2700 for the past 3 years"

"Ok, but when was my rate changed?"
"2001"
( we moved in in 99) "So what about the other years?"
"Oh we are only allowed to pay back 3 years, its state law." With that she hands me a preprinted copy of the law section that passed in SC general assembly that states 3 years pay back.

"So, why was my rate changed in the first place?"

"In 2001 The SC general assembly approved a motion to send out mailers requiring homeowners to declare their home residence anyone who didnt respond gets set to the non resident (investment property) rate."

"But you never sent me anything (At least not that I remember)"
"Yes we did, our computer indicates it."
"Oh, so you sent it certified, return receipt, great can I get a copy where we signed?" Because Im gonna pimpslap my wife if she got this and never passed it along.

"Oh no sir, we send it regular mail, just our system shows your name is on the list of people who were mailed to."
"And my system shows that your letter was never received, WTF?"

So a little research shows that I am getting $2700 but will not be receiving an additional 3100 I paid that I never should have. Despite the fact that the State issues my DL and it has always had this address on it. Despite the fact that I have registered 18 vehicles to this address. Despite the fact that I have filed 7 Income Tax returns to this home address. How is our government allowed to be so incompetent? Her only reply was sir there are only 11 people in this office. Damn all you need is 1 computer programmer. This is a scam. If I ran my business this way, I would bee brought before the state attorney general. I am not allowed to change a recurring rate without notification or 5 reasonable attempts at least 3 of which are documented.


GRRRRR

This :fuck-you:for you Mr Government Asshole
 
Feeling you anger, But be glad you are getting the 2700 they could have said to bad sucker.
 
Wow, that's quite amazing, that they would change the listing to non-primary if you did NOT reply. Doing nothing supposedly is your acknowledgement and agreement.
Of course, it works in their favor by a wide margin, right? They moved you into the much higher tax bracket by making no reply. Had they done it the otehr way (changed bracket for only people who reply, or kept in the lower bracket if no reply) then the amount of money brought in would be much less.
It all coems down to, what % of people simply do not read/reply to mail from the gov't. Whatever that % is (a wild guess is at least 10%) is the margin of, er, profit here for them.
I mean, how many people do you think are in this same boat?

Honestly, this sounds like an excellent basis for a class-action lawsuit. There must be thousands + who have been screwed by this. And by specifically giving a 3-year limit, the lawmakers acknowledgedt hat they KNEW some people would get caught, and they didn't want to have to pay them back their $$ when they found out.
 
A guy I worked with lost a little money like that. He overpaid/double paid ?? state taxes for a year in which he move to NC. It had been too long for him to recover all of his overpayment. He never got his $ back...
 
how did your taxes go up $900 per year starting in 2001 and you not notice that? reason i say this is in the county i live in you have to watch them like a hawk. they will say that the rate is being reduced but your value is going way up. that way next rate increase the whole base is higher. more revenue for the county. gotta love that county rent........... you never own anything!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
TPS said:
how did your taxes go up $900 per year starting in 2001 and you not notice that?
Click to expand...

I was just thinking that same thing. Mine went up $100 last year and I noticed, even without any notification other than the annual bill from the county...


Either way, that just plain sucks. If ya got the time, it may be worth digging into it more to see if others are getting screwed. as said before, this may be a good candidate for a class action law suit. That'll def. open their eyes (and other counties around thinking of the same thing). You may end up getting some more of your $$$ back.
 
Yup.... typical opt out crap...

But wait a second... I never opted in...

Hmmm new business model... I'll send bills to people, clearly state in the fine print that its not a real bill but if they don't 'opt out' it will turn into a real bill in 90 days.. To which I'll send a second real bill...
 
yeah i paid mine today. that sucks and write it every place i can on the check i write them. i am sure your taxes are not as bad in winterville. buncombe county is about the highest in the state. i have .42 acre on the deed with my house and they say it is worth $40,000 without the house. dont take too much math to figure out that my family should sell the farm and go elsewhere. but that is what the county is trying to do. if you own 10 acres or more and you are not farming it the county taxes it as developement property like at $80,000 per acre. kind of hard to work and keep up the family and the poor(my ass) county. money grubbing SOBs.
 
we do farm. it is just the fact that the county does chit like that!!!!! but if i had 100 acres of straight up and down rock piles no good for anything but crawling the county gov would think it was worth half a million. it is just tax them till they die then tax their heirs......... BS
 
Good old Rowan Co, NC

Annexed just our street into the city limits (the woods behind our house are in the county) - 2.3 acres in the city - now taxes are double what they should be - and we're still on well and septic. Estimated $4k to hook onto city water based on road frontage, but I'm sure the taxes I pay help maintain the municipal water system that I don't use. I'll use the well until the last drop of mud comes out of it.

Oh, and I pay each month for the garbage service too. I can garandamntee ya I don't get any extra service for the extra grand I pay each year. (end of rant)
 
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how class-action alwsuits get started... ;)
 
Had dinner tonight with my old college drinking buddy.

Attorney at Law...

turns out he just left his Public Defender role in Columbia and is opening up a private Crim Defense firm. He thinks a CA like this could make a name for him...he is going to do some digging for me.

Nothing like free atty time....

But to answer the above question on how I didnt recognize.
There was several factors.
#1 it was in the escrow
#2 I had a huge overage the year before so it was a gradual inclination as they offset it.
#3 HO insurance also went down that year (turned 25) so offset somewhat
#4 (And probably the key) I was a total slacker back then with my finances. Since I have had my shit together, it has been pretty steady.
 
That is really screwed up, Kind of like my grandma, she pays more on taxes per year then what she bought the house for in the 50's. Because she owns the house the gov will not help her. If she sold her house, car, and what little land she has.... within a year she could get help from the gov. The lady is 92..... If it was not for her kids she would be screwed
 
I have 5 years to retirement and SS. Born and raised in NC I have watched the bastards in Washington and Raleigh start changing the tax structure. Under GWB it got exponentially worse. A vote for change in November is our only hope to stop the runaway train and the demise of the middle class. Vote for your children's hope of a better future.

I am investigating going back to my father's roots in europe
if serious change doesn't occur after November.

George, you are a sorry SOB. You sold your sole to Ted and the lobbyist while not giving a $hit about the middle class. Take care in Crawford and watch out for all those lightning strikes and diamondback rattle snakes too.

Rant over....
 
Be happy, its found money! On the other hand I bet SC will send a 1099 to the FEDs so you can now pay taxes on that $2700. If you were itemizing, I am sure you were taking it as a deduction on your FED taxes in those years.

But, it does suck how a stupid tax rule can cost you.
 
SEAIRESCUE said:
I have 5 years to retirement and SS. Born and raised in NC I have watched the bastards in Washington and Raleigh start changing the tax structure. Under GWB it got exponentially worse. A vote for change in November is our only hope to stop the runaway train and the demise of the middle class. Vote for your children's hope of a better future.
I am investigating going back to my father's roots in europe
if serious change doesn't occur after November.
George, you are a sorry SOB. You sold your sole to Ted and the lobbyist while not giving a $hit about the middle class. Take care in Crawford and watch out for all those lightning strikes and diamondback rattle snakes too.
Rant over....
Click to expand...
So

IF you think it is so bad and you thing that everyone had screwed it it up so much.

Why don't you take you sorry POS ASS BACK TO YOUR FATHER"S ROOTS IN EUROPE, and get the hell out......

NO one wants you here if you don't want to be here.

You may not like what he has done or think it was all good or bad but he is still President, and you need to treat him as one.
 
MR. GADGET said:
So
IF you think it is so bad and you thing that everyone had screwed it it up so much.
Why don't you take you sorry POS ASS BACK TO YOUR FATHER"S ROOTS IN EUROPE, and get the hell out......
NO one wants you here if you don't want to be here.
You may not like what he has done or think it was all good or bad but he is still President, and you need to treat him as one.
Click to expand...

Wait a minute..

Just because he said he was investing his Roots in Europe that makes him a POS..

Hell no it does NOT..

Shit he has obviously been here in the states for a longtime to be 5 years from retirement and SS.

So he has paid his dues a lot more then others have here.. If he wants to take his money and go live somewhere else.. he has the right.. if he wants a change in the gov't then he will show up in Nov and Vote for what he wants..

but for you to call a person a POS just for stating there opinion is just crazy.
 
BRUISER said:
Wait a minute..
........but for you to call a person a POS just for stating there opinion is just crazy.
Click to expand...

That is my opinion, and just my opinion, whats wrong with it?

OF someone that calls a current President of the United States and wishes bad on them........

SEAIRESCUE said:
George, you are a sorry SOB. .......watch out for all those lightning strikes and diamondback rattle snakes too....
Click to expand...
 
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