by James A. Bacon
Sometimes it takes grumpy old men to get things done.
Ken Davis, retired from a career in the Attorney General’s Office, lived with his wife in the Willow Lawn area of Richmond for more than 40 years. They paid their property tax bills on time and without complaint. But in July 2023, thanks to late delivery by the U.S. Post Office, they missed their first payment.
Davis went down to City Hall and dutifully paid the tax plus an $800 fine. But then he learned he wasn’t alone. More than 20 of his neighbors were late in receiving their bills, too. So, he filed an appeal.
The city finance director turned him down. “The city complied with all applicable billing and advertising requirements and non-receipt of a tax bill does not relieve a taxpayer of fault for failure to pay taxes on time,” she wrote, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch tells the story.
I know Davis personally, so I can say with confidence that he is soft spoken, mild mannered, and the consummate gentleman. He’s not the kind of person to get angry or pissed off. But the city’s response did get his dander up. State code, he says, is clear that ““penalty and interest for failure to … pay a tax shall not be imposed if such failure was not the fault of the taxpayer.”
Davis and his neighbors raised a pool of funds to cover lawyer fees and file an appeal. Eventually, the case reached Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders, who agreed that citizens should not be held responsible for the failure of the Post Office to deliver the mail in a timely manner. Davis’ appeal was accepted. He and about 20 others received $800 checks in reimbursement for the penalties they had paid.
Davis told the Times-Dispatch that he was happy with the end result but said it shouldn’t have taken so long. “When there’s a meritorious case where there’s a justifiable reason for the failure to pay on time, it shouldn’t take the threat of litigation to get the right result,” he said. “It shouldn’t take a grumpy old man eight months to get something done.”
Bacon’s cosmic conclusions: Virginia needs more grumpy old men like Ken Davis. Besides seeking redress from the City of Richmond, the Cornell University alumnus filed the Alumni Free Speech Alliance amicus brief in a free-speech case at Virginia Tech. He also spoke at the 3rd annual meeting of The Jefferson Council, warning of the liability that senior university executives expose themselves to by circumventing the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race in college admissions.
Progressives have armies of tax-subsidized activists to pursue their causes. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations gives tens of millions of dollars to nonprofits seeking broad social transformation. Miranda Kaiser, a scion of the Rockefeller family, uses the resources of the Rockefeller Family Fund to collect billions from Exxon to recompense for climate change. Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Bill Gates, announced Tuesday that she would donate $1 billion over two years to think tanks, advocacy groups and legal defense funds supporting women, families and abortion rights. The list is endless.
Billionaires can put their money in foundations where it accumulates tax-free. In an extravagant form of conspicuous consumption, they can use these funds to signal their virtue and pursue their ideological passions. And then they beset the rest of us.
Working Americans have nothing to match the foundation-funded armies of activists except their own time and their own paltry resources. Traditionally, we’ve been more inclined to donate to our community funds. We don’t try to “save the world” — just ameliorate it. We’re more concerned with actually helping people: supporting food banks, and shelters for battered women, college scholarships, cancer research and the like.
The Soroses and Rockefellers and French Gates of the world have nothing to fear from a radical transformation of society. They’re billionaires. They know people in power. They’re insulated from negative consequences. Working Americans are not. When times get tough, we can’t retreat to our chalets in Gstaad or bungalows in Martinique.
Virginia needs ten thousand grumpy old men willing to stand up and fight the good fight. Ken Davis should inspire us all.