I received a disturbing mailing the other day — and no, it wasn’t from the City of Geneva about my reassessment (although that was delivered a few days later, and when combined with this one, made for quite a 1-2 gut punch, I must say).

It was from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, four very official-looking pages that stated in bold letters at the top of the first page: You have a fixed and final unpaid tax debt.

My first reaction wasn’t exactly super intelligent: “Huh?!?!”

My second reaction wasn’t exactly super suitable to be printed in a family newspaper.

This letter didn’t say “There may be a mistake here” or “Did you forget to mail in your payment?” or “Give us a call and let’s chat about this.” It stated fairly directly that I owed the Great State of New York dough, and it was in my “best interest to immediately pay the balance due” or “we may refer your case to a private collection agency.”

There was something in there, too, about garnishment of wages, a civil judgment against me and seizure of personal property. In other words, it was serious.

I probably don’t need to get super personal here, but let’s just say it was no small amount, and just to ballpark it, let’s just say it was somewhere between $3,046 and $3,048. Give or take.

Oh, and there was one other thing about this not-so-love letter: the balance due was from the tax year that ended Dec. 31, 2020. Let me put this another way: IT WAS FROM........

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