Texas man arrested for paying tax in $1 bills

3 Feb, 2015 21:24 / Updated 10 years ago

A man in Texas has been arrested while trying to pay his tax in $1 bills for “disrupting the operation and efficiency” of the local tax office.

Timothy Norris, 27, was trying to pay his $600 property tax at a tax office in Wichita Falls, Texas, last Wednesday when he was told to leave the office by Tax Assessor Collector Tommy Smyth. Smyth accused Norris of creating a disturbance and disrupting the efficiency of the authority as the latter wanted to pay the whole sum with $1 bills.

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However, the banknotes were folded very tightly so it “required tax office personnel approximately six minutes to unfold each bill,” Smyth said, the Times Record News reported.

Unfolding the bills paralyzed work in the office, so Smyth asked Norris to leave. However, the latter refused. The Wichita County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was present as the situation unfolded tried to arrest Norris but he pulled away and the deputy had to use force to detain him.

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Norris was charged with criminal trespass and additionally charged with resisting arrest. Norris’ bail was announced as standing at $500 for both charges.