My Visit to an IRS Office

I am SURE there are many hard working people within the IRS. But "The IRS" just stirs images of a big bad boogie-men coming to take our money.

Lately, we've learned that the IRS, or at least some within it, have used their positions to stop people and organizations from obtaining tax exempt status, because someone in the IRS doesn't agree them or their cause. So the fear many have had of the IRS, seems to have been born out.

Now, add in two things. It has come to light, that in just one of the many conferences held for some IRS employees, cost the American Taxpayers 4 MILLION DOLLARS. Some of those expenses, were for $3,500 a night motel rooms! And that was just part of some 50 MILLION DOLLARS spent on many conferences.

And the Obama sequester, that has our local Austin office, closed 2 days per month, as part of those cut-backs.

But, I owed the IRS money. We filed our taxes on time, but could only send a partial payment. We have been waiting for a notice of the remainder so we could send it in. This past Friday (the21st), we got our notice of the balance, and a due date of Monday (24th). Wow, not enough time to mail it, so I drove to the only IRS Taxpayer Assistance Office listed for Austin. I "assumed" (bad on me) that they would open at 9 am. I arrived at 8:50, and there was already a line outside. The office had opened at 8:30 am, so I was later than I thought. I soon learned that the inside waiting area was already full, and the outside line was waiting for chairs to open inside, to wait further.

In my case, I just wanted to pay my taxes, in full, and leave. I had the check ready, as well as the form the IRS had provided, so easy enough. Wrong! But I was told there was no way I could do that, without waiting in line.

At about 10:25 am, I finally made it to the inside. And inside, was a line just get to a counter, where I would have to get a number to wait further. So, I waiting in that line. That line was shorter than the outside line, and I reached the receptionist desk after only about 15 minutes, and I asked if they accepted payments. They did. GREAT! But she couldn't. The receptionist said that I'd have to take a number, and see an IRS Customer Service (?) person. "How long?", I asked. I was told it would be another 2-1/2 hrs, at least.

I hate lines. I won't even wait in much of a line for restaurants and movies, and I LIKE those! So I looked at the full waiting area, and then looked at the numbered IRS customer service cubicles. There were 16 cubicles, numbered with a digital light by each. But only 4 had their little numbers lit up. Only 4 people were working, out of the 16 cubicles that could have been serving taxpayers. Now I saw why it would be another 2-1/2 hrs, or so.

No thanks. I'll pay what ever penalty for the payment to be late, but this was just ... stupid. I didn't like "The IRS" before this year. But with the IRS scandals, wasteful spending of OUR money, and now a local office ill equipped to ever serve the taxpayers properly, and I really don't like "The IRS"!
And I suspect, this is just one small example of how our government takes care of us.

 With all that's going on - that is, the Benghazi cover-up; the Fast and Furious cover-up; the IRS scandals; the Dept. of (In)Justice and their targeting of a Fox News reporter; the National Security Agency's spying on ALL of our phone calls, texts, emails, and who know what else; Dept. of Homeland Security buying an unexplainable huge amount of ammunition, Armored vehicles, and Assault Rifles; and who knows what else .... let's not allow any of that keep Obama from taking an estimated 100 MILLION DOLLAR vacation trip to Africa!