Taxpayer Killed By Government Error
 

Taxpayer Dies After Official Error

WARSAW - A Polish taxpayer died from a heart attack after a demand for immediate payment in full of 80,000 zlotys ($23,560) following a mistake by the tax office.

Locksmith Zbigniew Macewicz died during a hearing in the central city of Bydgoszcz, where tax collectors demanded 80,000 zlotys because he failed to keep to a restructuring agreement.

But, in fact, the tax office had miscalculated one payment, telling Macewicz to pay 8.80 zlotys less than he should have and thus putting him in arrears on his repayment schedule.

The government expressed regret over the incident.

"I express my deep regret at the taxpayer's death," deputy Finance Minister Stanislaw Stec was quoted by the Gazeta Wyborcza daily as saying in Bydgoszcz, where he was sent to look into the matter.

He ordered an internal audit of the city's tax authorities.