Interest on Unpaid Auto Tax

In 1989 I owed (unknowingly) approximately $180 in car tax in Connnecticut. I was pregnant and moved to VT for four years with my fiance. It was a tumultuous relationship and when we split and I returned to CT in 1995 I called the tax office to see if I owed any old car tax before trying to register a new car and they said "no." I have registered about four cars between 1995 and present. About three months ago I called tax office to see what my present car tax was, as I knew I was about to be laid off and I needed to renew my car registration. The girl in the office asked "are you also M. Andrea Abare" (my full name is Mary Andrea Abare but I go by "Andrea"). I answered "yes" and she said "Oh well then, you owe taxes from 1989...we'll have to call you back when we figure the interest." They called back and said I now owed "$l,200.00" I argued that I didn't understand how I could have registered cars for the last five years if they had me owing delinquent taxes and they said that if I wrote my name a different way it might slip through the cracks. I asked why this was not "their" fault, as I was obviously not trying to avoid paying since I had called them in 1995. She said it was now my responsibility.....I only had about $400 to put towards the bill and promised to pay $50/mo toward balance in order to get my car registered....as much as I felt this was unfair I realized there wasn't much I could do about it. Tax clerk agreed to the deal. On the date the first monthly payment was due I called tax office to see if she would grant me another week to pay (as things are very tight being unemployed three months) but she was not in the office. When I got off the phone there was a sheriff knocking at my door threatening to take my car away because I "didn't keep to my agreement." I told him situation but he was not interested and instead became very threatening....told me I had to come up with remaining $750 within a month or car would be taken "when I least expected it." He also accused me of "using an alias" (M. Andrea Abare instead of Mary Andrea Abare) and I told him I never realized that was an "alias" and only did it because I go by my middle name and it sometimes becomes confusing when I write it the other way. Bottom line is he would hear none of it, treated me like a criminal and left me scared, upset and feeling unjustly treated. Do I have any rights here? Is it not in some part the fault of the tax office records for not telling me what I owed when I called them in l995? I can assure you I am a very hard-working, bill paying citizen and this situation has really been very upsetting. Thank you for any advice you can give

You're not going to like this one....
but, you owe the tax and all penalties.

Though you seem to believe that the state has some blame here, they simply don't. They had your record under your 'legal' name and you used an 'alias'. When you asked if you had an unpaid tax, you gave them your 'alias' and they checked. You did not have any debt under THAT name. It was incumbent on YOU to give your real name or at least both names for them to check. What happened was a sharp clerk very probably ran you using your last name only and found the old unpaid tax. That is why she asked for your 'real' name.

As for your feeling that the sheriff treated you "like a criminal and left me scared, upset and feeling unjustly treated", could it be because none of your excuses are relevant to the FACT that you owe past due taxes????

You ask, "Do I have any rights here?"
Yes, you have the OBLIGATION to all the other citizens of your state to pay your taxes on time. If you do that, you have the RIGHT to not have to pay them twice.

You ask, "Is it not in some part the fault of the tax office records for not telling me what I owed when I called them in l995?"
No. Based on your post, it was YOUR fault for not giving them the correct name so that they could check the records. They simply advised that you did not have any unpaid taxes UNDER THE NAME YOU GAVE THEM.

Flame suit is on and shields are at full power.