Calling property taxes “unethical, unchristian-like and above all, it is thievery,” tax protester Steven Piotrowski finally paid off his 2013 Montgomery County property taxes this week, preventing a sheriff’s sale at the last minute. He would not, however, go quietly. He initially decided to make a statement by paying off his bill with 83,160 pennies.
However, coming up with 83,160 pennies (that’s more than 1,663 rolls if you do the math) wasn’t as easy as he thought. After Piotrowski visited 15 banks in three days (yes, 15), he only managed to come up with 50,000 pennies. That meant that he had to pay the remainder of his bill using other coins and a few dollars.
He did, however, manage to make the payment. He did so, he said, because he was “being forced to pay for something against my own will” likening taxes to “financial slavery.”
He could not, however, make that statement at a government office.
The agent for the Montgomery County Tax Claim Bureau is Northeast Revenue Service, LLC. Northeast Revenue accepts online and phone payments by credit card, debit card and electronic check. You can also mail your payments using money order, personal check or cashier check. Walk-in payments are accepted at the Norristown office or at a number of Continental Bank branch locations where you can even pay at the drive-thru.
Piotrowski chose to make his payment – and his statement – at the Continenta Bank in West Norriton Township. And yes, to be clear, Piotrowski did go to 15 different banks to gather pennies to then cash in as payment at another bank. He did so on Friday afternoon, July 31, which was the last day he could make payment and prevent sheriff sale and additional costs.
Piotrowski hauled his payment into the bank using a wheelbarrow that he had purchased at Home Depot the night before, apparently just for the occasion. He and his supporters broke open the rolls of pennies before wheeling the funds into the bank.
His plan? “[G]ive people hope, and stick it to the man.”
Unlike Timothy Andrew Norris of Texas who attempted and failed to pay his $600 property tax bill with tightly folded individual dollar bills (and was subsequently arrested), Piotrowski’s payment was accepted at the bank. Piotrowski might have been inspired by Robert Fernandes, also of Pennsylvania, who took his wife and children – and $7,143.54 in cash – to the tax collector and paid in single dollar bills in 2013; Fernandes captured the moment of his payment on YouTube.
As for Piotrowski, the payment should mean that his taxes for 2013 have been settled. That would be the first year for which taxes were due for Piotrowski: he purchased his home in April of 2013. According to county records, Piotrowski’s 2014 taxes remain outstanding.
