California’s Pillage People Still Greedy After All These Years

Jon Government

In 1990, Gilbert Hyatt was awarded the patent for the first single-chip microprocessor. The computer industry welcomed this invention, earning Hyatt a lot of money. He soon moved to Nevada, which has no state income tax. California’s Franchise Tax Board (FTB) claimed Hyatt lied about his residency, and that he owed $7.4 million in taxes for a six-month period from 1991 to 1992. In Nevada, California’s FTB goons ransacked Hyatt’s trash without a warrant, told his business partners and doctors he was under investigation and shared Hyatt’s personal information with the media. Hyatt sued the agency for harassment and violation of privacy. California tried to get the suit dismissed, but in 2003 the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that Hyatt had a right to go to trial.

This post was published at FinancialSense on 08/30/2017.