Anyone who’s seen what I have would be amazed at how far from well oiled omniscient machine they believe government to be.

Bottom line is, as in Neo’s case, it is a crap shoot as to who one gets to deal with. Since there is no existential threat to the organization, employees have to be egregiously criminal to get fired – Awful service is not a firing offense.

I did call the Colorado Revenue thing (whatever the state equivalent of the IRS is) and got through fairly quickly and talked to a polite and helpful woman who pointed out the very dumb mistake I’d made on my return.

In a private economy, people call them the banks, loan sharks, and credit card debt collectors.

The IRS and other government lawyer/legal goons are more like an evolved version of the mafia. “Protection” dues are needed.

but then cuts the resources necessary to administer the law?

The idea and hope that Congress has cut anything, is why people placed their hope for change in Trum.

It’s a good thing people are getting a personal idea/experience with the evil in DC. Otherwise people would be naturally inclined to ignore it as business as usual. Get along to go along. Even some Trum supporters have given their fealty to the Trum in return for some additional time, outsourcing the problem to someone else. The others ones have different agendas, like burning the system down.

Cutting back on the IRS budget is counter-productive. Congress makes the tax law more complicated every year, but then cuts the resources necessary to administer the law? What’s up with that? When I first started, back in the Bronze Age, there were lots of quality people in the IRS I could deal with. With budget cuts, there are fewer people and those that remain are of lower quality. Do you think that helps or hurts the administration of the tax law?

In general, DON’T call the IRS. Not only will you have to listen to their awful music on hold, not only may you have to deal with unpleasant and uncooperative people but it’s generally a losing situation. Anything you say can and will be used against you, and nothing they say is binding. Once they key something you said, or something they THINK you said, into their computer system, it’s almost impossible to get it out.

Almost every IRS notice has a return coupon or an address to write to. Use that. You control what is recorded that you say, and they have to respond in writing. Not only is that to your advantage, but it generally slows the process by months. Use Priority mail, UPS, FedEx, or certified mail to make sure you have proof of mailing and delivery.

If you have to call an IRS call center, the person who answers will always give you his/her name and ID number. WRITE IT DOWN. If they don’t, immediately ask for it. If you wait until you’re in a screaming match, you may not get it. If the person is abusive or uncooperative, ask for his/her supervisor. If that doesn’t help, contact the Taxpayer Advocate Office and/or the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

If serious money is involved, call your tax professional!

Yes, I’ve had decent dealings with them prior to this. That’s why this was so shocking. And it wasn’t in response to anything I’d done; it was from the git-go.

Yes, lawyers rather than the IRS!

That’s quite a sum they were asking you for, though. Wow.

On the other hand, I had written dealings with the IRS recently in which they were – though slower than a sloth — eventually fair, courteous and even generous. I appealed from a penalty that was imposed as the result of the negligence of a tax preparer. Of course, the IRS did not have to grant the appeal, since of course I’m responsible even though I didn’t do it — but they were merciful and sent a polite letter waiving the penalty and interest, though with the clear warning that it was a one-time-only dispensation. I was surprised. They aren’t all bad apples, apparently.

I distinctly recall that Reagan got on national TV and stated that if the PATco people out on strike did not return to work by a particular deadline – which I believe was two days later – they would be *terminated*. As in “fired” and their replacements hired.

It was controversial at the time but I lauded him for that. It did not go over well with the rest of my pro-union family members.

However, one of my cousins, who was in his twenties at the time, took advantage of the hiring situation and became an air traffic controller shortly thereafter. He just recently retired.