Yep, you heard me right. A woman in Mansfield, OH has been arrested for not paying $.96 worth of city income tax in 2001. The city of Mansfield contacted Markeeta Gould for not filing a tax return in 2001. According to Gould, she called the city tax department and told them that she only made $55.00 that year as a nurse’s aide because of pregnancy difficulties and the woman she was talking to told her for that amount of money, not to worry about it.

When Gould reported a break in on the 19th of last month, the officer that came out to investigate the break in informed her that she had a warrant out for her arrest and the police arrested her in front of her children. She had to call her brother to get the kids and she had to bail bail herself out of jail. She pleaded innocent to the charges and a bench trial is set for March 15th.

Finance Director Sandra Converse said the city has a mandatory income tax return filing requirement for working-age residents — whether they earned income or not. “We don’t know what people owe if they do not file,” she said.

Individuals who did not work “can file a zero return, telling us that they made nothing, that they did not work,” Converse said.

“If they owe less than $3, of course they don’t have to pay anything. But they still have to file,” she said.

“I’m a mother and I’m a law abiding citizen. I paid my taxes every year before and I paid my taxes every year after,” she said. “With me getting arrested, I could lose my job.”

To read the full story: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050304/NEWS01/503040321/1002/NEWS17

I’m sure everyone in Mansfield really think this is the best way to use their tax dollars…to go after a mother for money she doesn’t even owe according to their own policy just because she didn’t file a form. Oh and don’t forget to arrest her in front of her kids. Yep, that’s really where I would want to live.