Normand Czepial of Ripon, Quebec was not happy with the increase of his property taxes by nearly $4,000. When he went to pay his tax tax bill, Czepial filled a children’s pool with 213,625 pennies and carted them down to City Hall to protest the higher taxes.

Ripon Mayor Luc Desjardins refused the payment and was forced to tell Czepial to find another way to pay his tax bill. In Canada the Currency Act says “A payment in coins… is a legal tender for no more than… twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.” This meant that Czepial was 213,600 over the limit. He wrote a check to pay the property tax.

There have been stories in the United States of people paying with small denomination coins but in all cases, the coins were accepted as payment. Unlike Canada, United States laws does not limit the number of coins that could be used in a payment. While a private citizen could refuse to take the coins, governments cannot. It is not something I recommend doing. Government employees have cell phones with cameras and they can do until you as you have done unto them. Caveat emptor.

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