[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help] 

Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

“The government wants to make sure that that does not come out. A huge part of our political system is predicated on blackmail,”

You Know What Happens Next

Cash Jordan: Half-Built Tower Abandoned… as ICE Deports Entire ‘Migrant Workforce’

Heavy rainfall causes flash flooding Tuesday night, some cars stuck in high water on Chicago's West

Biden Doctor PLEADS THE FIFTH, Refuses To Testify To Congress, Biden Pardons ARE VOID

Joe Rogan says FBI director Kash Patel played him for a fool and maga for fools with the Jeff Epstein files

Elon's AI System "Grok" Went Rogue And Has Been SHUT DOWN in an Emergency!

Earthquake Swarms at One of the MOST DANGEROUS Volcanoes in the USA

Ben Shapiro Declares Epstein Case CLOSED: ‘Facts on the Ground Have Changed’

Iran receives 40 Chinese J10-C Fighter Jets

China’s Railgun Is Now Battle-Ready, Thanks to Nuclear Power

Chinese Hypersonic Advancements! Deadly new missile could decimate entire US fleet in 20 minutes

Iran Confirms Massive Chinese HQ 9 B Missile Deal

Why Is Europe Hitting 114°F And Still Rising?

The INCREDIBLE Impacts of Methylene Blue

The LARGEST Eruptions since the Merapi Disaster in 2010 at Lewotobi Laki Laki in Indonesia

Feds ARREST 11 Leftists For AMBUSH On ICE, 2 Cops Shot, Organized Terror Cell Targeted ICE In Texas

What is quantum computing?

12 Important Questions We Should Be Asking About The Cover Up The Truth About Jeffrey Epstein

TSA quietly scraps security check that every passenger dreads

Iran Receives Emergency Airlift of Chinese Air Defence Systems as Israel Considers New Attacks

Russia reportedly used its new, inexpensive Chernika kamikaze drone in the Ukraine

Iran's President Says the US Pledged Israel Wouldn't Attack During Previous Nuclear Negotiations

Will Japan's Rice Price Shock Lead To Government Collapse And Spark A Global Bond Crisis

Beware The 'Omniwar': Catherine Austin Fitts Fears 'Weaponization Of Everything'

Roger Stone: AG Pam Bondi Must Answer For 14 Terabytes Claim Of Child Torture Videos!

'Hit Us, Please' - America's Left Issues A 'Broken Arrow' Signal To Europe

Cash Jordan Trump Deports ‘Thousands of Migrants’ to Africa… on Purpose

Gunman Ambushes Border Patrol Agents In Texas Amid Anti-ICE Rhetoric From Democrats

Texas Flood


Editorial
See other Editorial Articles

Title: Threats, contempt come with job for IRS workers
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/local ... ob-for-irs-workers-306383.html
Published: Mar 3, 2010
Author: Andrea Ball
Post Date: 2010-03-03 10:52:30 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 1009
Comments: 49

Some Americans heckle or mail tea bags; others, such as Stack, act in more dangerous ways.

Michelle Lowry knows first-hand how much people hate the Internal Revenue Service.

The 37-year-old Leander woman, who processes forms for the IRS in Austin, confronts that venom regularly. People slip razor blades and pushpins into the same envelopes as their W-2 forms. They send nasty notes with their crumpled documents. Last year during the height of the Tea Party movement, hundreds of taxpayers included — what else? — tea bags with their returns.

And then there's the weird stuff.

"Sometimes you'll see stuff that looks like blood on them," said Lowry, who has worked as a seasonal employee for five years. "We wear gloves."

Americans love to hate the IRS. The federal agency charged with making sure Uncle Sam gets his cut breeds contempt and resentment from nearly every walk of life.

On Feb. 18, Joe Stack — an Austin man with a decades-long bitterness toward the agency — crashed his private plane into a North Austin office building that housed IRS employees, killing himself and 68-year-old IRS worker Vernon Hunter. It was an extreme version of the ire directed at the agency.

Each year, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which oversees the IRS, investigates more than 900 threats made against IRS employees. Between 2001 and 2008, those threats resulted in 195 court convictions.

In 2008, for example, Randy Nowak of Mulberry, Fla. was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill the IRS employee auditing Nowak's taxes.

The IRS also has a "Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer" list that includes the names, addresses and case histories of people who have threatened, assaulted, harassed or otherwise interfered with the duties of IRS employees.

IRS spokesman Clay Sanford said he could not discuss how many people are on that list or whether Stack had been designated a potentially dangerous taxpayer.

Most IRS employees never encounter violence. But IRS employees are constantly exposed to other people's contempt for their profession.

Christopher Jenkins, who worked as a seasonal employee for the agency last year and is now a salesperson at Nordstrom, said he learned how to how to spot suspicious packages or bombs during his time with the IRS. He also read "long-winded letters about why people thought they were being wronged," he said.

"I think it's very easy for someone to hate the IRS as a non-human entity and hate what it represents in their life," said Jenkins, 23. "They forget that a human being somewhere is going to open their hate mail."

Lowry is used to the presence of security guards at the IRS office in which she works. She's been through evacuations caused by suspicious items in the mail, such as white powder. (It turned out to be packing material.) And while she has always known the risks of her job, she wasn't concerned about her safety until now.

"I'm a little worried, honestly," she said. "Every time I walk into the building, I'm going to think about it."

Austinite Jesse Pangelinan, 41, never felt threatened during his 13 years at the IRS. He said it wasn't until after he left the agency in 2000 to become a stand-up comedian that he came face to face with true IRS rage. After he joked about his former job at a comedy club in Ardmore, Okla., one audience member heckled Pangelinan so badly that the heckler had to be removed from the building.

"I was escorted back to my car in case he followed me," said Pangelinan, who also works at an insurance company in Austin. "The security guard followed me back to my hotel."

Lowry said she has heard everything from silly remarks ("Can you lose my tax return?") to disbelief ("Oh my God, I can't believe you work there.") She's heard tirades and sob stories.

IRS officials are "taking additional security measures in the Austin area," said Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union in Washington, D.C., which represents 85,000 IRS workers across the country. She did not detail what they were.

Lowry said that when she went to work this weekend at her office in South Austin, she saw two SUVs marked "security" at the entrance — something she had not seen before the plane crash.

Kelley, who met with Austin employees after the attack, said she was impressed with how well workers were dealing with the tragedy. The IRS is providing counseling for employees who need it following the plane crash.

"I know that these employees face many hard days ahead but what I saw was their spirit, their strength and their resilience," Kelley wrote in an e-mail to the Statesman. "It is clear that they care deeply for one another."

KUT radio personality Bob Branson, who retired as a IRS spokesman 12 years ago after 21 years with the agency, says anger at IRS employees is misguided.

"These are people trying to enforce incredibly complex and frequently incredibly unpopular laws," said Branson, 70. "Enforcing the law has to be done by someone, but keep in mind, these are not the people who make the laws... They're doing a job that needs to be done."

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 38.

#2. To: christine (#0)

deleted

Eric Stratton  posted on  2010-03-03   11:22:38 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: Eric Stratton (#2)

Perhaps the people that choose, freely presumably, to work for the IRS (Internal Rash o Shit)

I have called it the Institute of Revolting Scum for many years. But I can't take the credit for it because I heard someone else call it that.

James Deffenbach  posted on  2010-03-03   13:50:32 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: James Deffenbach, Eric Stratton (#13)

Perhaps the people that choose, freely presumably, to work for the IRS (Internal Rash o Shit)

I have called it the Institute of Revolting Scum for many years. But I can't take the credit for it because I heard someone else call it that.

I prefer Infernal Revenue Service as it is a Devilish operation.

I don't think I could work for the IRS - the thought inspires physcial revulsion.

I could work for one of the operations that I do think does good work - Forest Service, Park Service, Coastal and Geodetic Survey, NOAA, etc., ... but the more corrupt operations such as the IRS, CIA, DHS, FEMA, NASA, etc., are morally and ethically incompatible with leading a happy life - I would rather pump Septic Tanks or swim in an Outhouse.

Original_Intent  posted on  2010-03-03   14:24:00 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: Original_Intent (#16)

deleted

Eric Stratton  posted on  2010-03-03   14:56:32 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#21. To: Eric Stratton (#18)

I couldn't in good conscience work for any of 'em. I do not ever again want a paycheck coming from taxpayer funds. Nor do I want SS, medicaid, medicare, etc. Not that they'll be around when I need them anyway. Sheeeet, I'll be lucky to be alive and living halfway decently by 2020 IMO.

I hear you. Sounds like we are about the same age. As someone forced into a late life career change we're on the same track. Thankfully I am blessed with being a good writer and can write salable prose. I just need to discipline myself to putting in a standard work day at it.

Original_Intent  posted on  2010-03-03   15:26:35 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#29. To: Original_Intent (#21)

deleted

Eric Stratton  posted on  2010-03-03   16:32:28 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#30. To: Eric Stratton (#29)

some days it's tough getting motivated.

Underground economy is a great motivator.

Cynicom  posted on  2010-03-03   17:52:22 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#32. To: Cynicom (#30)

deleted

Eric Stratton  posted on  2010-03-03   20:06:05 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#34. To: Eric Stratton (#32)

Limited opps

One needs to be innovative and willing to work.

The big timers hire lawyers to do the same thing.

Cash is KING.

Cynicom  posted on  2010-03-03   20:14:51 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#38. To: Cynicom (#34)

deleted

Eric Stratton  posted on  2010-03-03   23:24:57 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 38.

#40. To: Eric Stratton (#38)

Willingness to work is not the issue.

For many it is.

Much of the work or businesses that lend themselves to an underground economy require at least hands on operation and control, or even worse, actual manual labor.

It is surprising how many people do not care to get their hands dirty.

Cynicom  posted on  2010-03-04 07:52:04 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 38.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest


[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Sign-in]  [Mail]  [Setup]  [Help]