Can't Have My Wages Garnisheed (Tax Day Protest)

A friend with nice teeth who -- at her incessant urging -- I will call "Barbarella", alerts me to one of the more absurd tax stories I've ever heard, and in which she's the victim. She writes:

Last year on tax-day, I owed New York State about $700, which I did not have. After a few months of mutually flirtatious silent treatment with the State -- while paying off the dentist and leveraging mail-in-rebates -- I filled out the NY State payment-plan worksheet and sent them a check. A tax warrant for my worldly goods was promptly issued.

Among the many "worldly goods" New York State cannot seize, according to a copy of the tax warrant provided to me by Barbarella, are the following:

1. All stoves and necessary fuel therefor for 60 days; one sewing machine and attachments;
2. The family bible, pictures, and school books and other books, not exceeding $50 in value, kept and used as part of the family library;
3. A seat or pew in a place of public worship;
4. Domestic animals with the necessary animal food for 60 days, provided that the total value of all does not exceed $450; all necessary food for the use of the judgment debtor or family for 60 days;
5. All wearing apparel, household furniture, one refrigerator, one radio receiver, one television set, crockery, tableware, and cooking utensils; [and]
6. A wedding ring; a watch not exceeding $35 in value[.]

Barbarella concludes:

The value of your tax dollar lies not only in how it is taken and spent, but in what is left behind when the law comes a knockin' to break your kneecaps. My lesson: own a church pew to hide the valuables; hide the caviar in the cat food; all rights are finite within 60 days or $450, whichever comes first.

I hate to invoke the tired MasterCard analogy, but it seems appropriate here:

Chickens and 60 days' feed: $450.
Cheap watch: $35
A whole new government: Priceless.