Debtor’s Prison

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” said Darren Cooper of York, England. “I thought it was a joke.” He had received a tax bill in the mail that threatened to take him to court if he didn’t pay the balance within 14 days. The balance shown on the bill: one penny. He rushed to council offices to pay his debt immediately. At first, “I considered paying the penny by cheque so the council would have to wait seven days for it to clear,” he said, but he had brought enough cash with him and used that instead. (Yorkshire Post) ...“We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” —American hotelier Leona Helmsley, before her imprisonment for tax evasion.