Dear Tax Man …
In the years I worked for the big daily, I could walk the few blocks through downtown Syracuse to City Hall.
When I free-lanced and then worked at Lowe’s, my schedule was loose enough that I could make the trip from the Little Bitty in the city neighborhood of Eastwood to the official location to pay my quarterly taxes to Syracuse and Onondaga County in person.
Now that my weekdays are spent working for the Liverpool Public Library with hours that more closely align with those of the folks that work behind the tax counter, I’d decided this month to send my check off by mail.
I dutifully addressed my envelope to the P.O. Box listed on the two account slips.
My tax check will arrive to be collected in Binghamton, N.Y., a nice enough city some 60 miles south of Syracuse.
Go figure.
How do you pay and where do you send your taxes? Does your locality do odd things? Do you use snail mail and checks for anything anymore?
Mark Bialczak 
Big shock moving from Florida to North Carolina. This state does have state income tax. What do they do with the money ? Not a single lane strip, curb or median has fluorescent paint. Night driving is a nightmare for me here.$175 to renew tag, only $38 in Miami.
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Wow. That’s awful about the night driving, Carl. I feel your bob-and-weave pain. 😦
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parking tickets and water bills go to a mailbox across the street from city hall.
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Across the street is more reasonable than another city, Beth. 🙂
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Hubs pays in person via check Terp! Gatorette
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A lot of us seem to like the in-person method, Gatorette. 🙂
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According to city website, the city’s bank: JP Morgan Chase closed all its secure drop box services locally and consolidated upstate drop box service in Binghamton.
I still pay in person because I always misplace the little tear off coupon and am always unsure what my tab is! The staff at Finance Dept. is always helpful and courteous. If you don’t go near end of month there aren’t many folks in line either.
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Yes, going down to City Hall in person was always the way to go, Phil, I agree. Thanks for the explanation on JP Morgan Chase bank, too.
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Parking ticket payments go there, too. Or so I’ve heard …
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Ha! Second-hand information, no doubt, Mr. McKeever. I wouldn’t know about that department, either.
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I pay local offices where I can, Mark. Throwback to my dad, who paid in person, in cash. ☺ Unlike him, I use checks, but like the personal touch of paying to a human.
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Me, too, Van, when I can. 🙂
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Strange, eh? We underwent some sort of decentralization of federal offices many years ago when it was pointed out that all the federal employment was in Ottawa, Now our mail to various departments goes all over the Canadian map. For instance our Revenue Canada (your IRS) is headquartered in a little known town in Quebec called Shawinagin (oddly enough the home town of the Prime Minister at the time). Our Unemployment HQ is in Bathurst New Brunswick and so on. They all still have some offices here but most processing is done elsewhere. It keeps our postal service busy – ha!
That said, Mark, after great complaints about the widespread offices of the government, they instituted a new program a few years ago. Both the provincial and federal governments created divisions known as “Services” – so all federal dealings can be done through “Services Canada” and our Ontario dealings through “Services Ontario”. They have put these offices all over the place – together in the same building, so an SO office can be found with a SC office. There are about 5 or 6 sites just on Ottawa and there is a set in every town across the province. Any business with any government division can be done through these offices. One is within walking distance of my place and I’ve been there a few tomes – they are efficient. In fact I was doing some business there and the agent asked if there was any way she could help me with anything else. Jokingly I produced a sealed envelope for another department and asked if she had a stamp. She just grinned and took the letter and told me they had an internal mail system and it would be there the next day – no stamp needed. Pretty amazing, eh?
One caveat – our DMV is still on their own – AAARGH!
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I could get it all done by going directly to City Hall, where the workers are polite and efficient and would direct me to the proper office, Paul. Or the County comparable, for that matter. But this mail thing in another city. Wow. I like your Services method up there.
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