A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

SIX FOR THE TAX MAN AND ONE FOR THE BAND: An update on my alleged $0.04 tax delinquency, as noticed by one of our readers. Via LancasterOnline.com:

Pennsylvania's debt collectors finally caught up with Steve Brown.

The West Hempfield Township businessman found out he owed the Department of Revenue 2 cents.

And that's with a 25 percent penalty....

It turns out, the state-contracted debt collector made a whopper of a mistake in its letter to Brown — and some 36,000 other Pennsylvania taxpayers.

The recipients, in fact, might not owe anything to the state; they just haven't filed returns, for one reason or another. ... But the computers at the offices of debt collectors Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson superimposed the number of filing periods missed onto the line item for amount owed.

So instead of being notified that his business missed two filing periods, Brown was told he owed 2 cents.

Brown was good-natured about the mistake, saying he considered calling the agency to work out some sort of installment plan. Brown's wife of 10 years, Karen, died about three weeks ago, and the letter provided some much-needed humor during an otherwise tough time.

"I got the biggest laugh of my life," he said.

Not laughing quite as much was Michael Scoliere, the collection firm's managing partner in its Harrisburg office. He said the glitch cost the firm about $18,000.