State threatens suit against boat hobbyists

[jeffbare]

Tennessee, you greedy bastards!

State threatens suit against boat hobbyists

Posted: Feb 08, 2012 3:27 PM PST
Updated: Feb 08, 2012 5:37 PM PST

Posted by Nancy Amons - email MURFREESBORO, TN (WSMV) -

The Tennessee Department of Revenue is threatening court action against a Murfreesboro man who built a small wooden boat in his garage with his 7-year-old son.


The state says that makes him a boat dealer and subject to paying extra taxes.

The boat is 14 feet long and made of wood. The family ordered the plans over the Internet because 7-year-old Carter loves to fish with his dad.

But when the Kings registered their boat and paid the boat registration fees, the nightmare started.

Letters from the Tennessee Department of Revenue say that because the Kings are boat dealers and manufacturers, they have to pay $539 dollars in taxes on the boat.

Johnathan King thought there was a mistake, so he called the auditor assigned to his case.

"I explained to them that this is just a wooden craft built in the garage, and they indicated that they knew that that was what this was," King says.

Revenue didn't back down from insisting they were dealers, and warned the family the state could get injunctions or even pursue misdemeanor charges if they didn't pay the taxes.

"If we don't, they could file liens and levies against the craft," King says.

"To say it politely, I think it's quite silly," he says.

How could something you build in your own garage for your own use make you a dealer?

We asked the Department of Revenue for an interview. They said they couldn't discuss the cases of individual taxpayers, and said that no one was available to speak about the issue, even in general terms.

Johnathan King says there's no way he's a dealer; this boat is intended to be a family heirloom that will be passed to his son's children.

"It'll never be for sale," he says. "He would be very upset, yes."

[DemolitionMan]

That is sick.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Clearly this winter has been too long for many of us.

[ahhudgins]

All it would take is one phone call to his tocal TV station and this case would be history.
Every day I’m more perplexed at the stupidity in all levels of our government.

[Jabrew]

he should pay the taxes and start claiming the garage, tools, wood and pay himself a huge salary and then file bankruptcy on the business and then claim unemployment.

[2RLAKE]

Originally Posted by Jabrew

he should pay the taxes and start claiming the garage, tools, wood and pay himself a huge salary and then file bankruptcy on the business and then claim unemployment.

... dont forget the corporate jet too

[ProStar Slalom]

Originally Posted by ahhudgins

All it would take is one phone call to his tocal TV station and this case would be history.
Every day I’m more perplexed at the stupidity in all levels of our government.

The local news covered it a couple of nights ago...I'm sure you're right...totally ridiculous.

[captain planet]

..………I don't even know what to say about this.....I mean I know what I want to say, but this is a kid friendly forum.

Here I'll put it politely, tell the state they have a better chance of winning the lottery than to get taxes from them for that boat.

I wonder how hard it would be then to get back the sales tax money they paid when they bought the kit?

[SkiDog]

Sounds to me like OBAMA is behind this!

[02ProstarSammyD]

he should pay the taxes and start claiming the garage, tools, wood and pay himself a huge salary and then file bankruptcy on the business and then claim unemployment.

To be honest if they didn't drop it I would claim everything I have connected to that boat, the space, etc and recoup the 500+ bucks. To me though I would blow it up hiroshima media style. I'd make sure the evils were known especially during election time. Wasn't tn the ones not putting out fires due to not paying like 100 bucks a year to the fire department too?