American Community Survey

[ChrisCairns]

Has anyone else received this survey, put out by the Census Bureau? Supposed to have been sent to 1 out of 6 households.

The questions are all pertaining to your personal crap...including income.

Pisses me off. I've read up on it on the net and they can fine you $100 for not filling it out or $500 for lying.

 

[cruzn57]

was it sent registered mail?

or did anyone sign for it?

then trash it, and say you never got it, let em prove other wise!

I WILL NOT provide personal info to anyone! there are federal privacy statutes.

my 2 cents

 

[sasmith350]

sounds like a mail scam just to get your info...

 

[ChrisCairns]

I agree, however.....

First a long story...lol.

Some years back a person I knew named Andy, from around our small town, asked me to be his payee. He received a government handout for his alcoholism. (It used to be considered a debilitating disease, no longer though.) His sister was his payee at the time and she was stealing most of it from him. I agreed and received his check, made certain his rent was paid, any expenses paid and gave him $10 per day to live on. I even saved for him as he wanted to start a small delivery service so needed a pickup.

One day the police picked him up and shipped him off to a rehab center. He was there against his will for about 6 weeks. Once out the government rehab center phoned me and wanted me to pay for his stay while he was there. I refused, saying he had been forced to stay there and we needed his money for his pickup. (I had saved about $1400. from his checks by this time.)

Soon after I started getting letters that I was required to answer on Andy's behalf, from Social Security. They took up my time and I had no longer answered one, that another different one would arrive. I knew what they were doing and kept answering until they wore me down. I told Andy I was quitting and sent the $1600 or so back to the government and washed my hands of the whole thing.

That was during my altrusitic do-gooder days.

With that in mind, one government agency harrassing me for refusing to conform to the request from another government agency, I've wondered about this survey.

I have a Federal Firearms License. My business basically relies on it to stay in existance. (Pawnshop.) It's coming up for renewal this April.

If it were just me I'd agree with you; throw it out and not worry about it. But from the experience with Andy I wonder if it will affect my renewal. Sounds farfetched maybe, but I'm very wary about our government and it's power.

So I'm at a crossroad. Fill it out, including my personal financial information, or not and risk what may be government interference with my business. Keeping in mind they can come in any time they want and go over everything. And as with all businesses I'm certain they can find something we're doing wrong if they want to come down on us.

 

[ChrisCairns]

No SASmith, it's legit. From the Census Bureau. I've looked it up on the net. And according to them and the court decisions they've quoted, I'm required to answer.

But why I'm asking on here is to see if it's truly 1 in 6 households like they say.

 

[Gary Wells]

No SASmith, it's legit. From the Census Bureau. I've looked it up on the net. And according to them and the court decisions they've quoted, I'm required to answer.
But why I'm asking on here is to see if it's truly 1 in 6 households like they say.

-----------------------------------
Sure it is, as long as 1 in every 6 households has an FFL & owns a pawnshop.

 

[cruzn57]

you need ...

to incorporate your business,

corporations have regulations protecting them from BS, ( that info questionaire)
LLC is not that expensive, and can protect you in the event of a lawsuit.

 

[ChrisCairns]

It is a corporation...and has been for many years.

However, "I" as the President of the Corporation am the one who must be the signatory on the FFL. And the ATF has "reserved" the right to enter my business at any time and inspect the records. We take great pains, since the license is so important to us, to make sure all is correct but........

So my paranoid brain is screaming that if I refuse to answer the Survey will the Census Bureau (one government agency) notify other government agencies such as the ATF of my non compliance?

From my experience with Andy and government agencies, I do believe they "talk" among themselves.

Or am I nuts and reading too much into this?

 

[MeanBuicks]

I've never heard of that survey but a couple weeks ago I agreed to a CDC National Health Interview Survey. Our home was one of a handfull picked in our subdivision to participate and it was completely optional to participate and we could refuse to answer any questions we felt like. Pretty much the only thing we didn't divulge were our SSN's.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

'cruzn

was it sent registered mail?


or did anyone sign for it?

then trash it, and say you never got it, let em prove other wise!

I WILL NOT provide personal info to anyone! there are federal privacy statutes'

They can still get you. First off, when a governmental entity says 'they mailed it to you'. then you got it. period. in court, you gotta prove you didnt get it, rather than vice versa. Youll lose on that. its the law. they dont have to prove they mailed it. its the other way around. secondly, there are federal privacy statues in place. but SURELY not to protect you from the 'federals' themselves lol. if someone like that asks for your info, you gotta do it. the ONLY reason they dont pursue it, would be because theyre too busy with other stuff. they can fine you for anything they want....