[In the Fall of 1997, the California FRANCHISE TAX BOARD (F.T.B.), apparently believing that since I supposedly "owed" the I.R.S. money, I must also "owe" the F.T.B., sent me a Notice of Proposed Assessment (essentially a bill) for $35.
[I basically said "No way!" in writing, so the F.T.B. "compromised" their billing to $31.
[I again said "No way!" in writing, so we went to an Appeal Hearing before the California BOARD OF EQUALIZATION (B.O.E.) on August 27, 1998.
[I won before the B.O.E.; and the F.T.B. "withdrew" its claim.
[Yes, it is a lot of hassle for $31; but if I did not legally owe it, I do not owe it.
[I finally received a copy of the transcript on April 1, 1999, so I am publishing it here.]

[There is about four months' worth of correspondence which precedes this hearing. I will try to transcribe and link some of that information.]

[Before the hearing, I bought a white styrofoam wig form (wig head) and made two laminated cardboard nameplates.
One, for me, is in my Christian name (Thomas Murrell Thornhill III) as my parents named me.
The other, for the wig head, is in the name of the entity (THOMAS M. THORNHILL, III) to which the F.T.B. had been addressing and mailing letters and Tax forms.
[So far as I can determine "THOMAS M. THORNHILL, III" is a whole-cloth creation of the SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, created for S.S.A.'s benefit, not for my own.
[At the Appeal hearing I placed the wig head and its nameplate on the front of the desk and placed my nameplate beside it in front of me.
[The references to "dummy" in the transcript refer to the wig head with the nameplate THOMAS M. THORNHILL, III.]

You may also find this information about names to be useful:

[I was not particularly eloquent because it was early in the morning and I had just travelled over an hour to get there. Then the B.O.E. limited me to ten minutes with a force of eight staff against me. [I was also scared.
[Nevertheless, there are some interesting clues in this transcript.
[The original transcript is double-spaced on 8" X 10" numbered-line legal paper.
[I have transcribed the entire text verbatim, but could not maintain the exact format. I have used bold to emphasize what I consider important, brackets {} for my suggested corrections and square brackets [] to comment.]