The adage that the taxman will chase you to your grave is not just a figure of speech: a tax bill has been mailed to the grave of a man who died several months ago in northern France.
France's center of public finances sent the bill to the
unidentified man’s former residence in the Ile-de-France region
near Paris last month. The mail was then returned with the mark
‘deceased,’ as the man had died several months ago.
In an attempt to ensure that the bill was delivered, a worker at
the tax office in Vincennes handwrote a re-addressed tax bill to
“Autheuil Cemetery - Tomb 19 - 61190 Autheuil," Le Figaro
reported.
Puzzled by the unusual address, the mail carrier decided to forward
the letter to the mayor of the village of Autheuil, Béatrice
Devedjian.
"I was a little shocked," she told RTL Radio. “It can’t
be that we’ve reached the point where we’re harassing people in
their final resting place.”
The center of public finances for Saint-Langis-lès-Mortagne, which
oversees Autheuil, described it as "a schoolboy prank." They
added that they had nothing to do with the letter – according to
the envelope, the letter was sent by authorities in Ile-de-France,
where the unnamed taxpayer lived.
"This statement does not seem to come from us because that
person did not live in Autheuil. It comes out of nowhere,"
Autheuil authorities said.
The municipality plans to find the family of the deceased man in
order to deliver the bill.