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Health & Fitness

How do you feel about the Town of Berlin's Tax Department?

The Town of Berlin Tax Department's treatment of its taxpayers leaves much to be desired.

I was speaking to a friend today, and he recounted two incidents involving the Tax Department of the Town of Berlin.  The two incidents do not reflect well on the employees who work at the Tax Department.

One incident involved a couple who has lived in Berlin for sixty years:  they are an elderly couple in their eighties.  They told my friend how they went into the Tax Department and spoke to employees there about their property taxes on their home.  They did not understand why their taxes were increasing so much in recent years, and also expressed the hardship that the taxes were imposing upon them.

Rather than receiving from the Town's employees any compassion or empathy, they were told that they should consider selling their home of sixty years and moving elsewhere to a community where taxes were lower.  Needless to say, the elderly couple were insulted by that advice, especially in light of the fact that they had been taxpayers of Berlin for over sixty years.

The second incident that my friend recounted to me involved an incident that occurred about a year ago at the tax office.  His wife arrived at the Tax Department on the last day to pay one's taxes about fifteen minutes before closing time.  Apparently many other citizens of Berlin had also waited until the last day to pay their taxes, too, since there was a line extending out of the door to the tax office.

At closing time, 4:30 PM, an employee of the Tax Department shut the door to the tax office, refusing to admit those who had been standing in line to pay their tax bills even though they had been waiting in line before closing time.  Consequently, they were forced to pay a penalty on late payment of their property taxes.

If these incidents are true, and I do not doubt their veracity, such treatment of the Berlin taxpayers who pay the salaries of these Town employees appears very uncivil, if not downright rude and unconscionable.  Are not Town employees public servants?

I think the citizens of Berlin deserve better treatment than that reflected in the two incidents recounted above.  Don't you agree?

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