May 21, 2008
Capitol Hill Resident Finds Computer Glitch in Tax Office
It's almost as if the District's Office of Tax and Revenue has been looking for more ways to come across as a bunch of buffoons. Today the Examiner reports on how one persistent Capitol Hill resident, Noah Meyerson, was responsible for forcing the office to fix an error they had not even detected which allowed roughly 300 homeowners to skip out on an entire property tax payment last year.
The tax office is naturally downplaying the mistake, arguing the error only accounted for less than one percent of the city’s tax revenues. But given the year the Office of Tax and Revenue has had, small mistakes like these really do add up to a larger picture of total incompetence.
If you're one of the lucky 300 who never received your property tax bill last fall, you have Noah Meyerson to thank for the fact that you will still have to pay those taxes. But don't blame Noah -- if we're ever going to have a fully functioning city government, it's going to take active citizens like him to hold our agencies accountable.
Photo by jsmjr
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You just know old Noah is about as popular on the Hill now as rug burn. Better watch your back in the cheese section of Eastern Market, Noah. If you know what's good for you, bee-YOTCH.
OTR has had a bunch of "isolated" issues with their computer systems. Very few of them ever see the light of day.
what a nerd...he had to fuck up a good thang
Good job printing his name guys: Now he will be stalked all over the hill by angry Cap Hill condo owners who will drive their Volvo V50s really slow behind him and leave yellow lab poop on his doorstep.
Run tax-man super hero! Run!
At least there's one DC resident who isn't afraid of the epithet "Snitches get stitches."
Yikes! I think he did the right thing, but he's totally going to have to move.
(Also, I bet he was the "teacher, teacher you forgot to give us homework" kid.)
The 300 or so are probably better off. Now they're only one payment behind.. if the problem had persisted for years before being discovered, they might have had to pay more.
And the other residents of the city thank you for paying your "fair share" so that we don't have to make up for it.
Of course there are plenty of arguments on what your "fair share" might be, but that should be a public discussion, not a computer glitch.
I agree with Politburo. I had an issue with OTR and my property taxes (the blame was actually on Countrywide for being an absolute idiot). Basically, my mortgage company was paying my neighbor's taxes and not mine. Which meant, according to OTR, I had a large bill due, in addition to lots of penalties and interest. Eventually Countrywide pulled its head out of its corporate ass and fixed things with OTR.
But if this guy and the 300 others didn't get a bill now, they'd eventually get a massive one with lots of penalties and interest. Or their home could go to a property tax lien sale.
As a condo owner who paid his taxes last year, I'm glad to see that everyone (that we know of) is paying their fair share; but my libertarian streak is totally outraged that this guy is rescuing the gov't from its own incompetence.
Eventually someone would have figured this out and billed the people. I only hope that the folks who don't pay their taxes through their mortgages are going to be given some sort of grace period for coughing up the cash. Half a year of property taxes is not chump change, and since it is the city's fault the bills never came, they need to give some leeway on the pay dates.
FWIW, I noticed this year that I had been taxed at the commericla rate (over double the residential rate) for 2 years and they would not refund the overpayment, just change it going forward. City: +$10,000.
greeper you should probably see a lawyer about that... or at least call your CM.
You're out $10K and you're merely "oh well..."?! I don't think I'll ever get to the point of being blah-zay for that amount of dough.
yeah, greeper. if they don't want to refund the money (read: its already been spent at nordstrom's this year by a tax employee), the "change...going forward" should include a credit for you.
Mental note: Don't hire greeper as my panda shaving business accountant.
I was just reading the murky blog about another big fan of the DC OTR---Nick Cho, former owner of the DC branch of Murky. It seems that Nick (by his own admission) was partly at fault for his back tax situation, he also seemed to allege that the OTR managed to royally screw up the process as well. Hard to figure out who screwed what up on that one, but OTR isn't all that with it. Anyone gotten their DC income tax refund yet? I turned my taxes in a month early and I'm still waiting.
I've been dealing with the same problem mentioned in this story for over a year now. I started contacting OTR a year ago and have been in touch since with various people. For a time, I was working with Harriette Walters and we all know how that turned out. Earlier this year I was working with the Tax Problem Resolution Office and the lady basically told me she didn't have time to help me because it was income tax season. My account still shows a negative balance so something is still not correct. I guess it's time to call them again and talk to someone completely new who has no desire to help me.
I got my DC tax refund (direct deposit) on April 16, iirc. Filed around April 1.
@inloganO: Keep calling OTR. If that doesn't work, call Jack Evans' committee.
@pants: You too should call OTR. There's no reason for you not to have gotten a refund yet. Unless something is screwed up.
Anyone gotten their DC income tax refund yet?
Hell yeah, I filed in the middle of March and had my refund in less than two weeks.
I haven't gotten mine either. Last year I think I got it in July. You can check the status at The DC Tax Office, which will at least tell you if the return was received and is being processed (but not when you'll see the cash).
I've already contacted Jack's council office twice and that's how I got in touch with the tax problem resolution office. I just sent an email to the public affairs guy that was mentioned in the newspaper article to see if he will try and help direct this to the right people since he apparently knows about the problem that no one else seemed to care about at OTR.
if its dcs fault then dc should let the people off. but then again i am one of those unfortunate homeowners who have felt noahs wrath of snitchdom.
double parkers for chuch please refer to noahs address and make sure you take advantage of his lawn as well
chuch = church
and bring your winey children along. im sure he will be happy to babysit
I got a really quick turn around on my DC Tax refund (electronically).
The office that deals with the property taxes is a mess ... it took me years to get the homestead exemption done properly on my condo.
Greeper - Jack Evan's office is a big black hole unless they see an opportunity for some positive media coverage or if it is an election year (which this is). You may be better off going directly to the Mayor's office and or getting an attorney to look into it.
I just got my DC refund yesterday
I filed in February and got my refund in about two weeks, but I'm sure as it gets closer to April 15 the turnaround time slows down.
Once upon a time I actually paid my DC property tax bill twice (I didn't realize that my mortgage company had paid it) and I contacted the OTR and they sent me a check for the duplicate payment within a week. Color me amazed. I'm still (obviously) telling the story, and that was back in 2000. Every once in a while the DC government does something right.
Speaking of which, I just renewed my driver's license online for the first time - I'm so glad they have that service, I was dreading a trip to the DMV.
Ah yes - further proof that DC is a 3rd-world ghetto shithole. As if any were needed.
Although, like Hillrat, I got my tax refund insanely quickly this year. So I'm grateful for that.
SNUFFY!
Woh woh, Snuffleupagus's full name is "Aloysius Snuffleupagus." I'm not sure how I feel about this.