Land of the free... woman arrested for owing $1.16 in late city taxes

Site Notices

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Land of the free... woman arrested for owing $1.16 in late city taxes

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:16:45 PM EDT

I know... all the LEOs are going to state that this was a good takedown and this woman was a criminal... too bad she wasn't in Orange County or she might have been graced with the honor of a jailhouse beating as well...

www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5091037/detail.html

Police Arrest Woman For $1 In Unpaid Taxes
Unfiled City Tax Forms Also Cited In Case

POSTED: 4:57 pm EDT October 12, 2005
UPDATED: 11:10 pm EDT October 12, 2005

LOVELAND, Ohio -- A Tri-State woman was arrested after she didn't pay just more than $1 that she owed in income taxes, News 5's Brian Hamrick reported.

Deborah Combs owed the city of Loveland $1.16 last year, but she also hadn't filed her city income tax forms in five years.

She said officers pulled her over and acted as though she were a violent criminal.

"One sheriff approached my car with his hand on his gun," she said. "Another from the other side of the car leaned in and said, 'Are you Deborah Combs?' He said, 'We have a warrant for your arrest.' I was absolutely shocked."

Combs said she thinks the arrest and charges are over-the-top for the amount she owed.

"What they've spent in stamps is more than what I owe," she said.

She could also end up paying hundreds of dollars in fines for the unfilled tax forms, Hamrick reported.

Loveland City Manager Fred Enderle said the amount Combs owes isn't the real issue.

"Whether it's $1 they owe us or $1,000, it's not fair to the rest of the public to not pursue that person," he said. "There is some expense involved, but it goes back to the principle. We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

Combs is scheduled to appear in Loveland Mayor's Court on Oct. 20.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:20:58 PM EDT

[#1]

Quoted:

"There is some expense involved, but it goes back to the principle. We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

Let's guess what that principle really was:

(a) We're dicks who have to justify our cool new guns, let's go use them on someone.
(b) Free thought bad, bureaocracy good.
(c) she picked on me in high school - Take that b**ch!

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:21:29 PM EDT

[#2]

she will probably lose her house in a sheriffs auction to pay the $1

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:21:56 PM EDT

[#3]

A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:22:20 PM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

Or the solicitor that wrote it...

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:23:50 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

Can we please start applying this logic to lawyers to. After all, we don't write laws, the Supreme Court does.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:25:26 PM EDT

[#6]

Give the lady a chance to see if she has a buck in her pocket.

other people are more deserving of being harrassed with such brute force.

over $2 no less.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:25:48 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

Or the solicitor that wrote it...

It is still just a sheet of paper until a judge signs. In this case it was probably an elected judge.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:29:05 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

Or the solicitor that wrote it...

It is still just a sheet of paper until a judge signs. In this case it was probably an elected judge.

If it was a deputy SO, then a common pleas county judge had to have signed the warrant, but Ohio has home rule, which means a municipality can make their own rules separate from State Administrative code as long as certain minimums are met. Loveland has a mayor's court, which means the case will be heard by the mayor of the city.

IIRC, she can petition to have the venue moved to common pleas.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:29:56 PM EDT

[#9]

but she also hadn't filed her city income tax forms in five years.

Think this may have been a factor?

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:32:20 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
but she also hadn't filed her city income tax forms in five years.

Think this may have been a factor?

Depends on her earnings. We don't know how much she made, and you generally don't have to file anything if you earned less than a certain amount.

Sounds like a serious attempt at despotism (as you will have that in some towns).

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:35:10 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
but she also hadn't filed her city income tax forms in five years.

Think this may have been a factor?

Oh C'mon. If you quote facts you'll spoil a good tirade.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:35:57 PM EDT

[#12]

That took several mindboggling lapses in judgment.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:38:16 PM EDT

[#13]

Playing the devil's advocate...

Isn't justice supposed to be blind?

If so, a person guilty of tax evasion is a criminal whether it is for $1 or $100000000.

The judge can't ignore the law, or he would be criminal as well.

The "victom" said "they" wasted more money in stamps than $1.16.

Does that mean they tried notifying her? And did she ignore it?

Sounds to me like she may have got what she deserved.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:42:00 PM EDT

[#14]

The LEO's served a warrant. Why give them shit? It's not their job to decide whether a warrant is justified or not. I'm guessing it did not specify the amount she owed.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:43:31 PM EDT

[#15]

The "law" should knock on her door and say. "We are going to barge into your home and take it away because you owe $1.16 to the state revinue service. Should you pay now with a self adressed letter with postage, we will postpone shooting your dog."

Sometimes too much force reflects badly on the community. Especially for a menial $1.16.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:43:46 PM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
The LEO's served a warrant. Why give them shit? It's not their job to decide whether a warrant is justified or not. I'm guessing it did not specify the amount she owed.

I suppose you're right about this.

You're making it harder for me to pull johninaustin and AR15fan's chain though.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:44:23 PM EDT

[#17]

Perhaps the warrant noted that Ms. Combs was known to carry a violin case.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:45:38 PM EDT

[#18]

Yeah, on the surface it sounds a bit excessive. But where do you draw the line? At 500 bucks, 5000 bucks? Any government anywhere anytime will and should take non payment of taxes as a challenge to its own authority, and she did not file for years.

Who said it here - the penalty of death is implicit in every parking ticket? It's true.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:46:43 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
The "law" should knock on her door and say. "We are going to barge into your home and take it away because you owe $1.16 to the state revinue service. Should you pay now with a self adressed letter with postage, we will postpone shooting your dog."

Sometimes too much force reflects badly on the community. Especially for a menial $1.16.

Oh they probably sent her 20 letters before they issued a warrant for her. She would probably still not have paid. It'll still give Loveland Cleveland a national reputation for stupidity and plenty of bad plublicity.

If you got a call to interview in Loveland now, wouldn't you think "Holy shit, those are the idiots that arrested that lady over a dollar!"

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:47:41 PM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
Yeah, on the surface it sounds a bit excessive. But where do you draw the line? At 500 bucks, 5000 bucks? Any government anywhere anytime will and should take non payment of taxes as a challenge to its own authority, and she did not file for years.

Who said it here - the penalty of death is implicit in every parking ticket? It's true.

What about using common sense?

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:48:17 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Quoted:
The "law" should knock on her door and say. "We are going to barge into your home and take it away because you owe $1.16 to the state revinue service. Should you pay now with a self adressed letter with postage, we will postpone shooting your dog."

Sometimes too much force reflects badly on the community. Especially for a menial $1.16.

Oh they probably sent her 20 letters before they issued a warrant for her. She would probably still not have paid. It'll still give Loveland Cleveland a national reputation for stupidity and plenty of bad plublicity.

If you got a call to interview in Loveland now, wouldn't you think "Holy shit, those are the idiots that arrested that lady over a dollar!"

Cincinnati... not Cleveland.

That's a low blow.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:48:23 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
Yeah, on the surface it sounds a bit excessive. But where do you draw the line? At 500 bucks, 5000 bucks? Any government anywhere anytime will and should take non payment of taxes as a challenge to its own authority, and she did not file for years.

Who said it here - the penalty of death is implicit in every parking ticket? It's true.

Here is a good line, if it costs the public more in gas to get the officer there, than the woman owes it's BS.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:49:48 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
The "law" should knock on her door and say. "We are going to barge into your home and take it away because you owe $1.16 to the state revinue service. Should you pay now with a self adressed letter with postage, we will postpone shooting your dog."

Sometimes too much force reflects badly on the community. Especially for a menial $1.16.

Where does it say they went to her house? She was pulled over.

Edit: Post 223

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:53:20 PM EDT

[#24]

Typical stupid fucking government and I love the apologists.
Waste ten times the amount owed just to show the peasants who's boss.
And remember, LEOs were just following orders.
Just wait till a judge says.....confiscate their weapons.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:53:46 PM EDT

[#25]

The real idiot appears to be the City Manager. I'd can his sorry ass for wasting taxpayers money pursing a trivial amount.

Posted: 10/12/2005 7:56:49 PM EDT

[#26]

We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

Perhaps at the point where you spend thousands of dollars of tax payer money to collect $1 of tax payer money you fucking moron. What an absolute wate of public funding. Stupid beyond words.

ETA: There isn't a sound business person alive that would expend thousands of dollars to collect a $1 debt. Write it off and send her a bill for the fine. This was just dumb.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:02:21 PM EDT

[#27]

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:06:24 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
Typical stupid fucking government and I love the apologists.
Waste ten times the amount owed just to show the peasants who's boss.
And remember, LEOs were just following orders.
Just wait till a judge says.....confiscate their weapons.

There is a big difference between serving a warrant that is stupid and an illegal one that violates someone rights.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:13:55 PM EDT

[#29]

I work with a municipal court and about half the warrants we issue start out as $75 tickets for not wearing a seatbelt. BUT, that's not what's the warrants for. The reason people end up with a warrant is they don't pay the ticket, so they get a letter telling them to pay the ticket or show up in court. They don't do either, so they get a letter telling them to show up in court and explain why. They don't respond to that either, and a warrant ends up being issued for Contempt of Court. It does piss off a judge to ignore them, right or wrong, you need to keep that reality in mind.

I don't know the facts of this case, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't something along those same lines. One thing I learned a long time ago was not to take the facts at face value when an article is written to get you worked up about some court case, they're usually pretty selectively presented. A classic example of that was a few years ago a story was written about how a burglar got a million bucks from a school district while being injured during the course of a burglary. After I researched the actual case, I found out a boy and girl snuck up on the roof of a school to make out after a dance, so technically they were trespassing and probably "burglars". They walked across the roof of the school building and one fell through a skylight which was set flush with the roof and had been painted to match the rest of the roof, falling into the building and being critically injured. In addition, someone else had fallen through the same skylight previously and been seriously injured and the school had done nothing to fix the problem. So, technically the story was correct, but the full facts tell a very different story.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:16:33 PM EDT

[#30]

Five years of tax evasion + $1.16. Sounds worth a warrant to me.

What IS a city tax form anyway? Sounds like a Yankee thing.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:17:26 PM EDT

[#31]

Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

I vass jest following orderz!

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:17:43 PM EDT

[#32]

What the hell is city income tax?

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:18:21 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:

We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

Perhaps at the point where you spend thousands of dollars of tax payer money to collect $1 of tax payer money you fucking moron. What an absolute wate of public funding. Stupid beyond words.

ETA: There isn't a sound business person alive that would expend thousands of dollars to collect a $1 debt. Write it off and send her a bill for the fine. This was just dumb.

Yea real efficient government there… it is way way pass just dumb.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:18:50 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Five years of tax evasion + $1.16. Sounds worth a warrant to me.

What IS a city tax form anyway? Sounds like a Yankee thing.

He didn't just say Yankee....

THOSE PEOPLE live in CLEVELAND.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:20:03 PM EDT

[#35]

Quoted:
What the hell is city income tax?

In Ohio, municipalities have the authority to pass taxes on those who reside or work within their limits.

It's a mess.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:22:16 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:
www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5091037/detail.html]
"Whether it's $1 they owe us or $1,000, it's not fair to the rest of the public to not pursue that person," he said. "There is some expense involved, but it goes back to the principle. We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

That is what I have been saying about illegals, I wonder if they have laws about illegals?

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:23:26 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
Quoted:
www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5091037/detail.html]
"Whether it's $1 they owe us or $1,000, it's not fair to the rest of the public to not pursue that person," he said. "There is some expense involved, but it goes back to the principle. We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

That is what I have been saying about illegals, I wonder if they have laws about illegals?

There are illegal immigrants working for incorporated businesses within the Loveland city limits.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:29:25 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

I vass jest following orderz!

Oh. The old LEO = SS argument. You should check out DU. You will fit right in.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:29:41 PM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
www.channelcincinnati.com/news/5091037/detail.html]
"Whether it's $1 they owe us or $1,000, it's not fair to the rest of the public to not pursue that person," he said. "There is some expense involved, but it goes back to the principle. We have laws. The laws have to be complied with. At what cost do you stop enforcing the law?"

That is what I have been saying about illegals, I wonder if they have laws about illegals?

There are illegal immigrants working for incorporated businesses within the Loveland city limits.

We are becoming as corrupt as mexico...........

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:37:06 PM EDT

[#40]

I haven't filed taxes in 4 years. Of course, I've been unemployed for 4 years, so I haven't made anything to pay tax on. One look at my credit report will tell you that......

Hope I don't get pulled over in Ohio and find out I owe $1. I have no indication that I do, but that matters little. Courts do not actually have to inform you that you haven't done something to issue a warrant. I know that for a fact and have been to jail for 30 hours to prove it.

BTW, I guess the line is drawn at one dollar. That's where the line is. One dollar.

Posted: 10/12/2005 8:50:21 PM EDT

[#41]

Hey, I have an idea: Fuck Taxes !!! and anyone who collects them or enforces bullshit tax laws ...
Government can pass all the "laws" they want but it does not give them the "right" to take "your" money ...

Posted: 10/12/2005 9:04:37 PM EDT

[#42]

I have a feeling that this stunt will backfire as I'm sure at least 90% of the citizens of loveland will have the common sence to see this as act of stupidity. Hopefully they will remember when it's time to go to the polls.

Posted: 10/12/2005 9:11:10 PM EDT

[#43]

Oh man, are they gonna do some take downs when they find out all those billionares don`t pay taxes.....

Posted: 10/12/2005 9:18:04 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
A warrant is a warrant. The problem is not the officer who served the warrant. It is the judge that signed it.

I vass jest following orderz!

Oh. The old LEO = SS argument. You should check out DU. You will fit right in.

You need to work on your thin skin there.

ETA: The point is that otherwise decent folks will do some pretty shitty things under orders, without questioning them.

Posted: 10/13/2005 4:09:14 AM EDT

[#45]

Quoted:
I haven't filed taxes in 4 years. Of course, I've been unemployed for 4 years, so I haven't made anything to pay tax on. One look at my credit report will tell you that......

Hope I don't get pulled over in Ohio and find out I owe $1. I have no indication that I do, but that matters little. Courts do not actually have to inform you that you haven't done something to issue a warrant. I know that for a fact and have been to jail for 30 hours to prove it.

BTW, I guess the line is drawn at one dollar. That's where the line is. One dollar.

At least in Loveland, Ohio, anyway...

The thing that strikes me as being kind of ironic about this is the fact that Loveland is a fairly affluent suburb. It's not like they have a tax base problem.

Maybe that's why they can afford to spend thousands of $ to collect $1.