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> Nick Stafford's coin payment required 11 people who were hired to break open the paper rolls of the coins, taking four hours. So you are telling me this 'Bus

> Nick Stafford's coin payment required 11 people who were hired to break open the paper rolls of the coins, taking four hours. So you are telling me this 'Businessman' wasted 11 peeps x 4 hours x 10$ min wage = $440, to 'make a statement' to IRS and pay his $400 tax bill with pennies / coins?! What kind of a businessman does that? What a waste of man power.

knappe 10y ago
"$3,000 tax bill using five wheelbarrows containing 300,000 coins." Right in the caption. A smart business man. He has gotten a lot of free publicity out of it.
- dgfgfdagasdfgfa 10y ago
  > A smart business man. He has gotten a lot of free publicity out of it. I can do a lot of things for attention; it doesn't make me smart.
  - Shivetya 10y ago
    it is all about proper application and this guy executed very well by exploiting the well established dislike for taxes and snarky but lawful adherence to the law. if payment can be made onerous then perhaps the taxing authority is itself
    - dgfgfdagasdfgfa 10y ago
      I'm still not seeing the exploitation here. Does he even own a business?
- sean_patel 10y ago
  > free publicity out of it. Ok what free publicity? For his business? Do we even know what his business is? No website. No name. I meant that he wasted labor time (and money). That's not a smart business man. If he had had a plug for his business website or service in all the news, then it's smart and you can say "publicity for $440. Otherwise, it's just a stupid stunt that wasted everyone's time -- the IRS, the media, you and me (reading it and reacting to it).
abfan1127 10y ago
one who is fed up with dealing with an overwhelming bureaucracy.
- cellularmitosis 10y ago
  And one who solves his problems by harassing rank-and-file employees who have no authority to address his problem.
  - sean_patel 10y ago
    Exactly! He wasted the rank-and-file employees time and probably caused them aggravation. They should sue for bodily harm -- thumb and fingers and wrists sore from counting his stupid coins.
Ratufa 10y ago
If he wanted to make a public statement and get publicity for his views, $440 to get on the BBC and various other news outlets seems like a good deal.
alkonaut 10y ago
Surely he was also required to pay the extra costs for the transaction at the receiving end? I can't imagine the authority was somehow required to accept his coin payment, and not only accept but do it for free?
- ScottBev 10y ago
  Its required by US law
- mixmastamyk 10y ago
  "Legal tender, for all debts, public and private."
  - abiox 10y ago
    the armchair-lawyer in me feels like the status of being legal tender doesn't itself mandate the acceptance of any particular item of currency.
- crystalmeph 10y ago
  Yes, they were required to accept it. They are collecting taxes for the government (I'm not sure if the VA DMV is directly run by the government, or is a contractor doing business for the government, but it doesn't make a difference in this case), which means they have to accept legal US money, in any denomination, because of this section of US code, which he mentions on his website[0]: As per section 31 U.S.C. 5103 of the "United States Coinage Act of 1965" Federal law specifically says: "United States coins and currency are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." Even charging an extra handling fee for dealing with all the coins is difficult to justify given the wording of the law. Luckily, carrying around 5 wheelbarrows of coins is also inconvenient for the person who's doing the protesting, so you really only see this sort of thing when someone is really aggravated and has lots of free time and money, it's not like we have a rash of DMV offices being crushed under a singularity's worth of pennies. [0]http://www.craftvinyl.com/page165 http://www.craftvinyl.com/page165 (He actually got the BBC to link directly to his site, wow, he just made another million I bet!)
loeg 10y ago
He claims to pay $300k/year in income taxes; owns 3 houses and at least 3 vehicles. I don't think the cost of the stunt is material to him.

knappe 10y ago

"$3,000 tax bill using five wheelbarrows containing 300,000 coins." Right in the caption. A smart business man. He has gotten a lot of free publicity out of it.

dgfgfdagasdfgfa 10y ago
> A smart business man. He has gotten a lot of free publicity out of it. I can do a lot of things for attention; it doesn't make me smart.
- Shivetya 10y ago
  it is all about proper application and this guy executed very well by exploiting the well established dislike for taxes and snarky but lawful adherence to the law. if payment can be made onerous then perhaps the taxing authority is itself
  - dgfgfdagasdfgfa 10y ago
    I'm still not seeing the exploitation here. Does he even own a business?
sean_patel 10y ago
> free publicity out of it. Ok what free publicity? For his business? Do we even know what his business is? No website. No name. I meant that he wasted labor time (and money). That's not a smart business man. If he had had a plug for his business website or service in all the news, then it's smart and you can say "publicity for $440. Otherwise, it's just a stupid stunt that wasted everyone's time -- the IRS, the media, you and me (reading it and reacting to it).

abfan1127 10y ago

one who is fed up with dealing with an overwhelming bureaucracy.

cellularmitosis 10y ago
And one who solves his problems by harassing rank-and-file employees who have no authority to address his problem.
- sean_patel 10y ago
  Exactly! He wasted the rank-and-file employees time and probably caused them aggravation. They should sue for bodily harm -- thumb and fingers and wrists sore from counting his stupid coins.

Ratufa 10y ago

If he wanted to make a public statement and get publicity for his views, $440 to get on the BBC and various other news outlets seems like a good deal.

alkonaut 10y ago

Surely he was also required to pay the extra costs for the transaction at the receiving end? I can't imagine the authority was somehow required to accept his coin payment, and not only accept but do it for free?

ScottBev 10y ago
Its required by US law
mixmastamyk 10y ago
"Legal tender, for all debts, public and private."
- abiox 10y ago
  the armchair-lawyer in me feels like the status of being legal tender doesn't itself mandate the acceptance of any particular item of currency.
crystalmeph 10y ago
Yes, they were required to accept it. They are collecting taxes for the government (I'm not sure if the VA DMV is directly run by the government, or is a contractor doing business for the government, but it doesn't make a difference in this case), which means they have to accept legal US money, in any denomination, because of this section of US code, which he mentions on his website[0]: As per section 31 U.S.C. 5103 of the "United States Coinage Act of 1965" Federal law specifically says: "United States coins and currency are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." Even charging an extra handling fee for dealing with all the coins is difficult to justify given the wording of the law. Luckily, carrying around 5 wheelbarrows of coins is also inconvenient for the person who's doing the protesting, so you really only see this sort of thing when someone is really aggravated and has lots of free time and money, it's not like we have a rash of DMV offices being crushed under a singularity's worth of pennies. [0]http://www.craftvinyl.com/page165 http://www.craftvinyl.com/page165 (He actually got the BBC to link directly to his site, wow, he just made another million I bet!)

loeg 10y ago

He claims to pay $300k/year in income taxes; owns 3 houses and at least 3 vehicles. I don't think the cost of the stunt is material to him.