Parking court case shifts to overdrive
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
02/10/09 2:32 PM PST
We could probably all argue that taxes are unfair, but that doesn't mean we don't have to pay them. And if you were on the hook for about $6.8 million, you definitely would go to great lengths to avoid them.
But alas, for one San Francisco parking garage operator, Tuesday was judgment day, and to the surprise of no one following the case, Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woodard denied an attempt by U.S. Parking Inc. and its president, Cihat Esrefoglu to stop the city from collecting assessment dues the treasurer says it owes for underreporting parking taxes its is owed from 2004 to 2007.
As reported in my column today, attorneys for the garage outfit filed a lawsuit claiming that U.S. Parking did not owe the tax, objected to the way in which tax decisions are made and said that the Treasurer's Office essentially has too much power.
But taxes are taxes, and when the numbers don't add up, the courts usually side with the accountants. Besides, all that money that U.S. Parking made included the taxes paid to them by citizens who forked over their 25 percent parking fee in advance. The City Attorney's office contends that U.S. Parking decided to keep the tax money - so that should answer your fairness question for today.
Now it's up to Treasurer Jose Cisneros to actually collect on the $6.8 million judgement - and that could prove to be a bigger challenge than the one the city faced in court today.
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