Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991 TAG: 9102200467
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It seemed, last April, like a nice thing to do.
Strickler was polishing off his state income tax when he ended up, as so many do, on that dreaded Line 22 (Step 4): "If LINE 19 is larger than LINE 21, enter the AMOUNT YOU OWE. Attach check or money order."
Strickler, not one to shirk his duty, entered the legitimate fact: $150.
Then he went down to Line 26, to the authorized deductions from overpayment for contributions. Strickler wanted to give some money to the Virginia Nongame Wildlife Program.
He added $2 to the amount he owed and came up with the complex, but rational, formula: $150 + $2 = $152.
David Strickler sent a check for $152 to the Commissioner of the Revenue, and he sat back at his home on Mud Lick Road in Southwest Roanoke.
Duty was done. His taxes were paid. A Roanoke River logperch could live to swim another day. David Strickler, retired insurance agent, taxpayer, contributor, had done his part.
This story does not end there.
This story doesn't come full circle until January, when David Strickler got a check from the commonwealth of Virginia for $2.10 - a $2 overpayment and 10 cents interest.
Great, thought Strickler. Here I've had to listen to the state poormouthing, crying about deficits and shortfalls and revenue gaps, threatening to lay off employees, weighing furloughs, actively considering closing welcome centers along the interstate highways, and shutting down half of Virginia Tech.
And then Virginia gives Strickler his $2 contribution back, eight months later, with interest.
"If I made a mistake, it'd be the first," said Strickler. "I'm a perfectionist on these tax forms. Takes me longer to fill out a tax return than anybody in America."
It was a mistake, but it should go down in the history books with an asterisk.
Strickler made a mistake only because the state has a bizarre rule.
If you are due a tax refund, you can contribute money to the wildlife program. It will be deducted from your refund.
You cannot - repeat CANNOT - donate money to save wildlife if you owe tax money to Virginia. Not on the tax form, you can't. Send a separate check.
"That's just the way they wanted to do business when they first put the program on the tax form nine years ago," said Suzie Gilley, who administers the wildlife project from Richmond.
"It's an additional cost to the Department of Taxation if they have to deposit the check and keep track of the money on computer," Gilley said.
In other words, the state will accept the money, hold it for eight months, then send it back with interest, to the payer.
But the state cannot, for some reason, pass that money to the pocket on the other side of its own trousers.
"Have you ever understood a tax agency, whether federal, state or local?" Gilley asked. "The tax department does things the way the tax department wants to do things."
by CNB