It’s the Big White Building With the Ionic Columns and the Statue of Alexander Hamilton . . .
An Exercise in Finding the Owners of Unclaimed Property
One of the theoretical policy justifications for state unclaimed property laws is that the states will be conscientious about finding missing owners and reuniting them with their property. Indeed, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (an affiliate of the National Association of State Treasurers) the “purpose of unclaimed property laws is to protect consumers by ensuring money owed to them is returned to them, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments, and other entities.”
Given that premise, the identities of “lost” owners with property being held by the state never cease to amaze. Property is not just held for those truly “lost,” or famously reclusive authors, or politicians too busy to open mail, or those off in a galaxy far, far away. Some owners of unclaimed property are . . . ahem, presumably easier to find. As we pause the week to celebrate the 243rd birthday of the United States of America, note that California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Washington, D.C., and no doubt others are all holding “abandoned” or “unclaimed” property for the United States of America, United States Government and/or United States Treasury (and probably hundreds of other federal agencies).
While Washington D.C. might get a pass here because of the whole “Taxation Without Representation” thing, for the other jurisdictions searching in vain for the United States Treasury: try the big white building in Washington, D.C. with the ionic columns and the statues of Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin . . . or, you know, the back of the $10 bill
Happy Fourth Everyone!
One of the theoretical policy justifications for state unclaimed property laws is that the states will be conscientious about finding missing owners and reuniting them with their property. Indeed, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (an affiliate of the National Association of State Treasurers) the “purpose of unclaimed property laws is to protect consumers by ensuring money owed to them is returned to them, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments, and other entities.”
Given that premise, the identities of “lost” owners with property being held by the state never cease to amaze. Property is not just held for those truly “lost,” or famously reclusive authors, or politicians too busy to open mail, or those off in a galaxy far, far away. Some owners of unclaimed property are . . . ahem, presumably easier to find. As we pause the week to celebrate the 243rd birthday of the United States of America, note that California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Washington, D.C., and no doubt others are all holding “abandoned” or “unclaimed” property for the United States of America, United States Government and/or United States Treasury (and probably hundreds of other federal agencies).
While Washington D.C. might get a pass here because of the whole “Taxation Without Representation” thing, for the other jurisdictions searching in vain for the United States Treasury: try the big white building in Washington, D.C. with the ionic columns and the statues of Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin . . . or, you know, the back of the $10 bill
Happy Fourth Everyone!