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A Pennsylvania man got the shock of his life when he discovered he owed the US government $34 billion. “I don’t even make more than $100,000 a year.”
“I knew it was a clear blunder. I don’t even make more than $100,000 a year, so there’s no way I’m even close to that amount,” Barry Tangert told News 8 of the stunning blunder.
The Lancaster County resident said the mysterious letter was one of two things that came in the mail last weekend. He opened the first one and found a check from the federal government for a refund of more than $900. The happy Barry then opened the second letter, but it brought less good news. Barry allegedly owes the state $34,576,826,261.47. The total was so large that it didn’t even fit on one line of the document.
Tangert knew immediately it was a mistake – the astonishing figure is more than triple the $11 billion that America’s richest man Elon Musk says he owes the government by 2022.
How the error reached him is still a mystery to Tangert.
“Good year”
“I don’t know if it was a computer glitch or if it was an input error on my tax preparer’s part,” Tangert said. He contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s customer service department, which offered little help. “The first thing the person on the phone said was, ‘You’ve had a good year.’ And I said, ‘If only that were true,’” Tangert said.
Fortunately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now resolved the problem. The error is said to be due to incorrect numbers entered into the system. According to the tax authorities, there was only an error at Barry Tangert and other residents should therefore not fear such an invoice.