MTA seizes tax refund of former homeless Brooklyn veteran for 22 year old ticket

It’s tax season in broke-ville, and after a year of waiting for the never-not-delayed and often-noxious L train, the MTA is here to levy your meager tax return for an alleged 22-year-old unpaid transit violation. That’s exactly what happened to Marine veteran and Brooklynite David Evans, who discovered his would-be tax return went to the MTA in an enforced judgment for a ticket he allegedly received in 1999, NY1 reports.

With help from the New Economy Project, Evans filed a lawsuit against the New York City Transit Authority:

David Evans, a plaintiff in the case, said his tax refunds were seized for violations more than a decade old despite no records of tickets. He said his state tax returns have been deducted for years, and that he owes more than $1,900 at this time, but that sum was previously over $2,700 for tickets going back 20 years.

Katharine Deabler-Meadows of the National Center for Law and Economic Justice said the New Economy Project heard complaints from people that their tax refunds were also seized. According to Deabler-Meadows, those people weren’t given any information and were told they had to pay $10 per document to see the MTA’s limited records

Evans also spent time in homeless shelters and believes that his identity was stolen, he doesn’t recall being involved in the alleged subway incident that resulted in 1999, and the MTA hasn’t been able to produce records for verification.

The New Economy Project’s Financial Justice Hotline provides “free information, legal advice and referrals to community groups and low income NYC residents,” according to their website. Happy filing!

 

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