When Is A Tax Not A Tax

      I wrote a blog last May about my attempts to get my mother the tax refund she was due from the state of Michigan.  I helped her to file her taxes in February but weeks, even months, passed with nary a word not any money from the Department of Treasury.  Efforts to try to communicate with anyone connected with Michigan's version of the IRS were fruitless.

     Finally within the past month, she got her refund.  It was supposed to be deposited directly into her bank account, but instead she received a check as well as a letter explaining some adjustments they made to her tax return.  The adjustments cost her several hundred dollars so I said I would check to see if I made any mistakes on her original return.

    My numbers and math all checked out.  However . . . the state of Michigan did not agree with the amount that I said my mother paid in property taxes.  What??  It's simple, right.  You add the amount you paid in summer taxes to the amount you paid in winter taxes, and that gives you the total taxes paid.  Right?  

     Wrong, says the state of Michigan.  They said that my mother's winter taxes included an assessment for waste pick-up and disposal.  And that assessment is not a tax.   Hmmm, when I looked up assessment in my crossword dictionary, the first synonym it listed was tax, t-a-x.  Maybe we better tell Will Shortz, the guy in charge of the New York Times crossword puzzle that.  "Assessment . . . three letters"  It can't be "tax", Will  The state of Michigan says so.

     There was another adjustment that I found more puzzling.  My mother, living in the family home by herself with her own income, could not deduct herself on her tax return.  That's what the adjustment letter claimed to be the case.  I studied the copy I made of my mother's return and discovered that I had made an error.  

    I had correctly listed her as a resident, single with no dependents, and I claimed the appropriate individual deduction amount.  However . . . I should have added a "1" in the box which indicated the number of deductions I was claiming.  And with the math that the people in the treasury department use here in Michigan, if there was nothing in that box, then nothing times $5,800 is nothing as well.  So no deduction.

    You would think that the state of Michigan might err on the side of a 93-year-old woman and adjust her exemption amount like they adjusted her property tax amount, but squeezing every penny out of an old woman is more important than helping the elderly when they make mistakes.

     Speaking of which, my mother's older sister did not get any of her claimed refund from the state of Michigan.  I'm not that familiar with her tax situation but I can guess at what happened.  She moved out of her home recently at age 96 to move in with her daughter for a period of time.  She still owned the home she paid taxes on and still it was as far as I know her primary residence.

     But I'm thinking that when she listed her address as her daughter's home where she now gets her mail, the state of Michigan deemed that the property she owns and pays taxes on doesn't qualify for a refund.  You would think that the elderly who live on such a limited income would qualify for a break in this regard.  My aunt is not rich nor a real estate tycoon.  But again, squeezing every penny out of an old woman is more important than giving them a break.