Unclaimed Funds

May 5, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Do you live in New York State? Here’s a website where you can check to see if the state is holding any unclamied funds in your name.

For your protection, banks, insurance companies, utilities, investment companies and many other businesses are required by State law to surrender inactive accounts to the State. The Office of the State Comptroller serves as custodian of this money until you claim it. The State of New York never takes ownership of this money. If you can prove you are entitled to the money, we will gladly return it to you, at any time, without charge.

This website will tell you how to avoid having your money turned over to the State and how to get it back if it is abandoned.

I checked, nothing there for me. Not for anyone else I know, either. Oh well. I’d checked several years ago, and did find some unclaimed money in a savings acocunt in my name. Apparently, when I was born, one of my relatives started a savings account for me. I found out about it at age 30. Guess how much money accrued after 30 years? $17.24. :-p Interest rates for savings has always been pitifully paltry; it’s almost criminal. Not even enough to get a pizza or notebook memory, blech. Oh well, $17 is $17, eh?

Anyway, there may be something there for you! Check it out!

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Posted in free stuff, search engines, websites. Tags: , . 4 Comments »

New York Internet Sales Tax

June 6, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

Not very good news for online shoppers. New York State just passed a law that commands online businesses to tax their patrons if these patrons reside in the state of NY. The NY government is pooh-poohing it, saying that shoppers won’t see much of an increase in their costs, but the state is expected to reap in millions. So, you buy a $10 book, you’re going to pay $1.00 extra for tax (by the way, NYS taxes are the highest in the nation). But if you buy, say, a fancy lcd mount for $1,000, you’re going to pay $100 in taxes. That’s highway robbery.

And money or not, it’s a matter of principle. New York State is breaking federal LAW and being a bully.

I’m amazed that the state can get away with this, since this is a direct breach of the “interstate commerce” clause of the Constitution; this clause forbids one state to tax goods purchased in another state. The Supreme Court clarified it, to allow a state to tax commerce if the business has a direct physical presence in the state. But Amazon.com has no store in New York State (just individual vendors). I’m glad to hear that Amazon.com and Overstock.com are taking NYS to court. God forbid NYS should be allowed to tax like this, imagine all the states doing this. That would be another part of the Constitution gone.

Incidentally, one of the reasons why the Founding Fathers even wrote the Constitution was because New York State was doing this very same thing– taxing goods from other states (New Jersey and Connecticut) as the goods passed through the New York City harbor. NJ and CT became so incensed that it almost started a civil war– and this was only just after the American Revolution! You’d think New York would stop being a bully, but nope.

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Posted in crime, Internet, news. Tags: , , , . Comments Off »
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