#157 Obama's "More Compassionate" IRS

I have an update on how Rick is faring with the IRS and will use the first-person to relate it: "I got a call from Jean Clough, the caseworker for Congressman Cliff Stearns. She had received the packet I sent her and called the congressional laison. This person told her that at first glance, prima facie for those who speak Latin, she would uphold the IRS decision to take $150 out of my monthly Social Security check because I benefited from my wife's earnings. That tossed me back for a few days until I asked myself 'What benefits?" Therefore, I began making a list of benefits. Halving the mortgage and house insurance payment would have been about $600 back in 2005 and 2006. My wife and I were not getting along, and I think she was seeing someone else then so she was not spending money on me. In fact, I had a friend in her seventies who bought me groceries on Saturday, and we used her car to do our errands each day. So I wasn't getting a car, gas, or very much food from my wife, Calamity. I'm still thinking about the benefits I got, but they do no add up to a lot. I'm in the range of 10,000 a year, and I don't think a single person pays income taxes on $10,000. In fact, he may receive an Earned Income Tax Credit check at that level of poverty. I'm not sure. I worked the EITC calculator on the Internet at $15,000, and I didn't qualify. The congressional laison said she would send Jean Clough a written decision.
I just got a call from a Mrs. Walker with the Tax Advocacy Center in Jacksonville, Florida. She was going to work from the perspective that I had too many expenses to justify the IRS taking $150 dollars out of my check. Mrs. Walker was going to send me some forms and wanted copies of everything I had sent out. I asked her, ' So first you are going to try to stop the IRS on a compassionate basis, and then you are going to try to stop them on a legal basis?'
'Oh, no. You filed joint returns. There's nothing legal you can do about it.'
'I didn't sign any returns except one about 18 years ago. What happened then was that I discovered that Calamity hadn't filed a tax return in the past three years, and I insisted that we go H.R. Block and filed a return for that year. Her response was 'What do you care? We'll probably be divorced by then?' I insisted, and we filed a resturn (as well as me getting in touch with the IRS about the past three years. I think I remember filing that return.'
Mrs. Walker asked, 'Can you prove that?'
'I have to prove I'm not guilty. I'm not innocent until proven guilty?'
'Not for taxes.'
'Okay, I can handle that. I can go to federal court, and I think my ex-wife is truthful enough to testify that I did not sign those returns (If she isn't, I think her Green Beret boyfriend would be very disappointed. I think his sense of honor is real unlike the everyday worms I deal with.)
'Well, let's not go to court yet. I will call Jean Clough, send you the forms, and then within two or three weeks of receiving them, I should have an answer.'
'Okay, it's just that Obama is sending us a check for $250, and the IRS is going to take that (if something isn't done soon.)'
Next, I called Jean Clough and learned that the congressional lasion had referred me case to Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker just called me out of the blue, not saying how she learned of my problem. I also called Mrs. Walker back to tell her she would become a feature of my blog. She said she couldn't read or comment about my blog. I asked her to call me if I said anything untrue. For her edification, I want to state here that everything I state is not a quote but a paraphrasing. I don't claim to have perfect recall. She didn't sound happy to hear she was going to be blogged about and hanged up without a 'goodbye.' A pity too because she had been so sweet and respectful. That's where I am with my IRS problem, Two-Guns."
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Peter "Two-Guns" Nickerson, MS, MSW at peternickerson12@yahoo.com.