Death and Taxes

Taxpayer Dies After Official Error
Mon Nov 1, 2004 07:49 AM ET

WARSAW (Reuters) – A Polish taxpayer died from a heart attack after a demand for immediate payment in full of 80,000 zlotys ($23,560) following a mistake by the tax office.
Locksmith Zbigniew Macewicz died during a hearing in the central city of Bydgoszcz, where tax collectors demanded 80,000 zlotys because he failed to keep to a restructuring agreement.

But, in fact, the tax office had miscalculated one payment, telling Macewicz to pay 8.80 zlotys less than he should have and thus putting him in arrears on his repayment schedule.

The government expressed regret over the incident.

“I express my deep regret at the taxpayer's death,” deputy Finance Minister Stanislaw Stec was quoted by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily as saying in Bydgoszcz, where he was sent to look into the matter.

He ordered an internal audit of the city's tax authorities.

Â© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

2 Replies to “Death and Taxes”

Doug says:

November 3, 2004 at 00:00

… because they do not permanently link their publicly-available articles. Normally I would just post a link.

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Doug says:

July 29, 2005 at 15:24

From Reuters News:

Man goes on rampage in tax office
Fri Jul 29, 2005 11:30 AM ET

BELGRADE (Reuters) – After twice receiving a tax bill, an enraged Serb stormed the tax office, started shooting and tried to set the tax chief and the building on fire, Serb media reported Friday.
Nebojsa Miladinovic, a saw-mill owner in his fifties, tried for days to convince tax officials in the central town of Gornji Milanovac he had paid his 192,200 dinar ($2,794) bill. They said he had not, sent the bill again and blocked his bank account.

After arguing his case Thursday, Miladinovic returned, doused tax chief Gojko Stefanovic and the office files with petrol, shot at computers and yelled “I was ripped off.”

Two people were injured in the melee and parts of the office caught fire, with panicked staff escaping through the windows.

Police arrested Miladinovic, whom neighbors described as a hard worker who never made trouble. Witnesses said he even paid for parking his car in front of the tax office before the rampage.

Ã‚Â© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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2 Replies to “Death and Taxes”

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