The San Diego Union Tribune today (Sep 10,2016) had an article by Joshua Stewart: "Deadline Nears for County Refunds" that pointed out that monday Sep 12 is the deadline for people who may be due a check from the San Diego County Treasurer to file a form to request the funds or they will be "escheated" to the government, and the rightful owner will never again be permitted to claim the funds. The San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector, Dan McAllister says he is confused: "Why wouldn't anyone want some quick and easy money?" There are more than $352,000 in funds waiting to be claimed. McAllister says he "has a team of investigators that try to track down people who might have a claim to the funds." I looked at the list of funds, and the majority of the funds belong to banks, mortgage companies, title companies and even a trailer park. You can't tell me that Dan McAllister's team can't find Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, or First American Title Company. Is he really trying to find the rightful owners? Or does he want to capture the money for the County? I think it appears to be theft!
I understand that the county is authorized to do this under California Revenue and Taxation Code sections 5097 and 5102 It does make some sense to put pressure on citizens and agencies to "close the books" on old accounts. In the past, when all records maintained on paper, it was expensive to keep, file, search, and find records. Now that technology permits very easy record keeping, there is minimal additional expense involved in maintaining records. I believe it is time the state rules on escheatment of funds be modified to allow for funds to be claimed after longer periods of time than just 4 years. Of course, a penalty, such as 10% per year could be levied for periods after the 4 yr period to encourage closure of accounts. In addition, the Government agency should not be permitted to escheat the funds unless it can honestly show that it really did make an attempt to contact the rightful owner. I'm not sure that holding a little "press conference" or putting an article in the newspaper constitutes a valid attempt.
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I understand that the county is authorized to do this under California Revenue and Taxation Code sections 5097 and 5102 It does make some sense to put pressure on citizens and agencies to "close the books" on old accounts. In the past, when all records maintained on paper, it was expensive to keep, file, search, and find records. Now that technology permits very easy record keeping, there is minimal additional expense involved in maintaining records. I believe it is time the state rules on escheatment of funds be modified to allow for funds to be claimed after longer periods of time than just 4 years. Of course, a penalty, such as 10% per year could be levied for periods after the 4 yr period to encourage closure of accounts. In addition, the Government agency should not be permitted to escheat the funds unless it can honestly show that it really did make an attempt to contact the rightful owner. I'm not sure that holding a little "press conference" or putting an article in the newspaper constitutes a valid attempt.
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