Source: Cityview 
Author: Geoff S. Fein
Pubdate: January 7, 1998
Page: 7-8
Contact: Fax: 515-288-0309 Email:  "I was freaked out.  I begged them not to take things.  I sat here
and watched them rob me." Tracy Burns, With Mike Dix, In Their Adel Home
Editors note: This article, with photo, is online at:
http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/DPF/stamps.html

Michael Dix and Tracy Burns were busted for marijuana and cocaine
possession.  Nine months later, cops seized everything from their pickup
truck to a pooper scooper.

CLEANED OUT

Michael Dix and Tracy Burns wear the look of frustration, anger and fear. 

They moved to Adel four years ago from Waukee.  Dix, a plumber, came from
East Dubuque, Ill., because of the construction boom and to be closer to
his family.  

The couple's home is several miles off Highway 6.  The only noise they hear
is the sounds of cooing doves and barking dogs.  

Inside, borrowed furniture sits upon torn-up floors and semi-finished
walls, the byproduct of a remodeling project.

Their home is an empty nest.

But it wasn't always that way.

They had all the things a young couple could want: furniture, a stereo and
a VCR. Dix had his tools and a Ford pick-up.

And they both had a cocaine problem.

On March 10, the couple's home was turned upside down as Dallas County
Sheriff's deputies searched for drugs.  Months earlier, deputies searched
through their garbage for drugs, but came up with only a few seeds and a
straw, Dix says.

It was, however, enough to get a search warrant for the home.

The sheriff was originally tipped off by neighbors who complained about
increased traffic on Prospect Ave., a sign of drug dealing, says Dallas
County Sheriff Art Johnson.

Because no one was home during the raid, deputies left a letter informing
the couple of their pending arrest.

"Our attorney called them.  We agreed to turn ourselves in," Burns says.

But the Dallas County Sheriff couldn't wait.

"They went behind our lawyer's back and arrested us," Dix says.

Burns, 26, and Dix, 37, were arrested March 14 on charges of possession
with intent to deliver.  The raid turned up 5 grams of marijuana and 48
grams of cocaine.

Though they had more than an ounce and a half of cocaine, Burns and Dix
deny they were dealers, instead claiming it was for their own use.

On June 26, Burns and Dix pleaded guilty to not having a drug tax stamp.
The Dallas County attorney dismissed the possession charges, avoiding a
trial.  The couple were placed on five years probation, paid fines and
entered drug treatment.

Six months later they're adhering to the court's orders, staying off drugs
and working to turn their lives around, Burns says.

Little did Burns or Dix know their past would come back to rob them.

On Dec. 15, Burns returned to the Dallas County Sheriff's department to
retrieve items taken during the March search. She got back all but one - a
videotape.  The next day she was sitting in her living room when a deputy
drove up.

"I thought he was coming to drop off the tape," Burns says.

Until she say the other vehicles.

Deputies and agents of the Iowa Department of Revenue had come to collect
on the couple's failure to pay the drug stamp tax.

The tax, which sounds more like a leftover from the Revolutionary War, is a
way for Iowa to collect on the multi-million dollar drug trade.

"It's a means to have this segment of society pay its fair share," says
Lucille Hardy, an assistant with the attorney general's revenue division.
"It's revenue the state is entitled to."

Since Sept. 1990, Iowa has required a stamp be affixed to a baggie of
marijuana or a vial of cocaine.  Any illegal drug requires a stamp.  And it
ain't cheap.

A $5 tax is due on each gram of marijuana; $250 on each gram of cocaine,
heroin or methamphetamine; $750 on each unprocessed marijuana plant; and
$400 per 10 pills, from the moment of possession.

"This is a business with no income tax, no sales tax, so we enacted an
excise tax," Hardy says.

Iowa law prevents the Department of Revenue from sharing information on
drug tax stamp applicants with law enforcement agencies.  Even with that
assurance, few people are lining up to admit they are in possession.

A program manager with the Department of Revenue says few if any stamps
have been sold, except maybe to stamp collectors.

Some attorneys have begun telling clients to get the tax stamps, Hardy says.

"The number of applicants is small in comparison to the number of people in
possession of drugs," she says. 

TAXING SITUATION

Burns and Dix owed the government $24,242.40, half in taxes, half in
penalties.

Failure to pay results in immediate collection.

That's what the state did.

During the three-hour seizure, Lori Dennis, an agent of the Iowa Department
of Revenue and Finance, and seven sheriff's deputies took six truckloads of
items.  Among them were stereo equipment, a bug zapper, pooper scooper,
bread box, couch and love seat, milk can, 50-foot roll of air hose,
Christmas presents, a Thighmaster, Burns' engagement rings and Dix's 1994
Ford Ranger.

"I was freaked out.  I begged them not to take things," Burns says.  "I sat
here and watched them rob me."

The state took more than 150 items.

Neither Burns nor Dix had any idea they owed the money.

"No one contacted us about the law," Dix says.  "The Department of Revenue
said most people don't pay.  This is why they don't give notice."

The notice sent to Burns and Dix was postmarked the afternoon of Dec.16,
the day of the raid. It's possible the notice wasn't even sent until
afterward.

Dennis wouldn't comment.

"We don't have a lot of advance warning, says Don Cooper, Administrator of
Compliance with the Department of Revenue.  "The usual process is to hand
deliver it.  It's not a typical case to mail notice of the tax."

Nothing about this case is typical.

No advance warning is given because violators are usually unwilling to pay
the tax.  They may hide, sell off their possessions or flee, making it
harder for the state to collect, Cooper says.

But Burns and Dix say they were willing to work out a payment plan.  And
it's doubtful they would have fled - both have jobs and own their home.

"They were never given a chance to work on a payment plan," says Burns'
attorney Dean Stowers.

The number of people prosecuted for not buying the stamps is unknown.
Hardy says the Attorney General's office collected more than $400,000 in
back taxes in 1996.

While the Department of Revenue states it's willing to work out payment
plans, acceptance of a plan is at the department's discretion.

"They are saying they use discretion, but they can't say how.  Is it up to
the individual revenue officer?" Stowers says.

Truth is, Burns and Dix never got the chance to ask about a payment plan.

The letter sent to them said if they wanted to discuss a payment plan, they
should call the Department of Revenue on Dec. 16.  But they didn't get the
letter, sent registered mail, until Dec. 18, two days after the raid.

During the seizure, Burns says law enforcement went through the house
tagging items, acting as if they were on a shopping spree.

"They made it sound like they were taking things for their own personal
use," Burns says.

When she asked to call her attorney, Burns says not only did officers
refuse to let her answer the phone without paying $24,242.40, but they
tagged the phone and seized it.

"I sat in the corner of the room and they stood over me," Burns says.
"They said if we listened to them this wouldn't happen."

Burns and Dix both believe the reason for the seizure was that they refused
to be snitches. When they were arrested in March, the couple says Sheriff's
Investigator Kelly Sutten asked them to turn over names.  "The police were
upset because the people wouldn't become snitches. 

The cops carried a grudge over this," Stowers says.

Sutten was on vacation and unavailable to comment. 

COPING

Dix was in the middle of remodeling the house.  The job was made a bit
easier when police broke down the door and ripped up the carpet.  Losing
his tools and feeling victimized by the authorities, however has made it
hard for him to continue.

"I got so much hard work into this," Dix says.  "It's hard to control my
anger."

Dix was hoping to spend some time over his vacation doing work around the
house.  But not now.

"I'm trying to keep occupied.  I have no tools and I'm afraid to buy
anything.  They could come back and take them."

Tools were not the only thing he lost.

When authorities took his truck, they directly affected the terms of his
probation.  Dix can no longer drive to weekly recovery meetings in Des
Moines.  He's now trying to make arrangements with his probation officer so
he isn't charged with violating probation.

"No one is making much effort to work with us," Dix says.

Burns says she has trouble sleeping and has gone to a doctor because of the
raid.  "It's scary. They can come in any time and take things," she says.

Burns and Dix say they put in long hours at work to keep their minds off
their situation.

"It's not bad working long hours when you don't have much to come home to,"
Dix says.

"We knew we had five years ahead of us, but we were doing really well.
This is like a smack in the face," Burns says.  "Now we just sit here and
look at nothing we have." 
- ------

SEIZED

The police wrote this list of items they took from the home of Tracy Burns
and Michael Dix for failure to pay the stamp tax on their drugs 

   1.Kenmore microwave 
   2.1-gallon jug of pennies 
   3.Wine rack & contents 
   4.CDs & rack 
   5.7 Nintendo 64 games 
   6.Star Fox 64 games 
   7.Two blank video tapes 
   8.Three VCR video tapes (movies) 
   9.50' roll of yellow airhose 
  10.Nokia cell phone 
  11.Pentax 35mm camera 
  12.Hitachi TV 
  13.Nintendo 64 
  14.Hitachi VCR 
  15.Coffee table 
  16.Table lamp 
  17.Wooden TV trays 
  18.Two hand held video games 
  19.RCA Dish TV 
  20.Maglite 
  21.Bread box 
  22.Sears Craftsman lawn tractor 
  23.Couch & love seat 
  24.Sony boom box radio 
  25.Telephone stand 
  26.Oreck XL Vacuum cleaner 
  27.Avon Michael Jordon watch 
  28.Gold colored rope style chain 
  29.Antique style Austin phone 
  30.Brass plant stand 
  31.Metal step ladder 
  32.Miscellaneous hand tools 
  33.Bread maker 
  34.Goose cookie jar & pennies inside 
  35.Black Hills ring 
  36.Solitaire ring 
  37.Microwave stand 
  38.Telephone system 
  39.Norman Laboratory Speakers 
  40.Hpm - 60 Speakers 
  41.One set soft side luggage 
  42.Table & chairs (dining room) 
  43.Folding card table (4 chairs) 
  44.CD file & 12 CDs 
  45.Box containing 76 CDs 
  46.Stand up mirror 
  47.Box & 7 CDs 
  48.White jug full of pennies 
  49.Collector plates 
  50.Collector plates 
  51.Collector plates 
  52.Collector plates 
  53.Collector plates 
  54.Collector plates 
  55.Collector plates 
  56.Collector plates 
  57.Collector plates 
  58.Collector plates 
  59.Collector plates 
  60.Collector plates 
  61.Darts & dart case 
  62.Misc. costume jewelry 
  63.Florescent lantern 
  64.Dewalt circular saw 
  65.Coleman Dual Fuel Lantern 
  66.Camping stools 
  67.Delta Mitre saw 
  68.(illegible) 
  69.Skil 4 1/2 angle grinder 
  70.Air compressor regulators 
  71.Spray gun 
  72.Spray gun 
  73.Air heater 
  74.Tool cabinet & contents 
  75.Air compressor 
  76.ICE auger 
  77.Halogen light 
  78.Shopvac 
  79.Battery charger 
  80.Craftsman chainsaw 
  81.Fiberglass 6' Ladder 
  82.(illegible) 
  83.B & D buffer 
  84.Whistler radar detector 
  85.Folding ladder 
  86.Dewalt drill & case 
  87.Silver horn saddle (kid size) 
  88.Adult saddle 
  89.Four fishing poles 
  90.Gas trimmer 
  91.Boat anchor 
  92.Huffy bike 
  93.Palm sander 
  94.Mag cement float 
  95.Drop cord 
  96.Swingline stapler 
  97.Floor support stands 
  98.Sheet rock square 
  99.Oreck hand held vac 
 100.Ford Ranger pick-up truck 
 101.Drill bit index & bits 
 102.Halogen lamp 
 103.Liars bench 
 104.Tent 
 105.Hole saw 
 106.Belt sander 
 107.Plumber bit kit 
 108.Three ice fishing poles 
 109.Tackle box & contents 
 110.New kitchen faucet 
 111.Well pump 
 112.Patio tables & chairs w/umbrella 
 113.Bug zapper 
 114.Milk can 
 115.Servess 5hp roto tiller 
 116.Turbo wash 
 117.Almn grain scoop 
 118.Quasar camcorder 
 119.Self propelled push mower 
 120.Paramount weed trimmer 
 121.Sheridan pellet gun 
 122.Winston lighter set 
 123.Bose speaker 
 124.Elvis decanter 
 125.Elvis decanter 
 126.Video rewinder 
 127.Bushnell binoculars 
 128.Box of 18 CDs 
 129.New Ford rim 
 130.Music box carousel horses 
 131.Music box carousel horses 
 132.Music box carousel horses 
 133.Music box carousel horses 
 134.Music box carousel horses 
 135.Music box carousel horses 
 136.Music box carousel horses 
 137.Music box carousel horses 
 138.Brass carousel horse 
 139.Green bakeware 
 140.(illegible) 
 141.Pioneer turntable 
 142.Backgammon 
 143.TEAC graphic equalizer 
 144.Pioneer cassette tape deck 
 145.Kenwood receiver 
 146.Sony CD player 
 147.Elvis decanter 
 148.Thighmaster 
 149.Stanley stud finder 
 150.AM/FM Clock Radio 
 151.$75 cash 
 152.$75 cash 
 153.$75 cash