Crime & Safety
Pennsylvania Man Pays Taxes With 83,160 Pennies
"Property taxes are unethical, unchristian-like, and above all...it is thievery."
One local resident isn’t happy about his taxes, and he’s decided to send the government a message.
Steve Piotrowski of Lower Providence collected thousands of pennies from 15 local banks over the past few days to pay his taxes, he said on his Facebook page.
He then rolled them in a wheelbarrow to the Continental Bank on Ridge Pike in West Norriton to pay his property taxes, according to the Times Herald.
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“Friday, July 31st, 2015 will be the last day that I am able to pay my school property taxes, or else my home will go up for Sheriff’s Sale,” he wrote in a Facebook page made for the event. “Since I am being forced to pay for something against my own will, I will be paying my property taxes in 83,160 pennies.”
Piotrowski’s page quotes a 19th century philosopher and delves into his views on the ethics of property taxes.
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“If taxation without consent is not robbery, then any band of robbers have only to declare themselves a government, and all their robberies are legalized,” reads Piotrowski’s quote of philosopher Lysander Spooner.
Piotrowski’s page describes him as a political activist and a public figure.
He also runs a website promoting conservative viewpoints.
“How can we claim to live in a free society when private property rights aren’t even respected?” Piotrowski writes. “I work paycheck to paycheck just to get by so that I can own my little slice of the “American Dream”, but it feels more like a nightmare.
He said he believed that the taxes were an imposition on his rights.
“Property taxes are unethical, unchristian-like, and above all...it is thievery! I firmly believe that we must STAND UP & SPEAK OUT about this injustice, because no tax should have the power to leave you homeless.”
Tax reform advocates were reportedly on hand and “cheering him on” as the wheelbarrow rolled up to the bank, according to Philly.com
He stated his intentions on his Facebook page on Thursday, as he gathered the pennies for Friday’s payment:
Image courtesy Steve Piotrowski’s Facebook Page.
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