John Evans

It’s looking more and more likely that it will happen. My agency hasn’t said much-they finally sent a generic e-mail at 430PM today. All it said was that they are trying to minimize the impact on core missions.We’re already under a 2-year old hiring freeze, and additional responsibilities keep getting piled on us. With fewer and fewer people to do…[Read more]

Politicians had no problem mandating extra costs for Federal employees, and unlike a one-time day off, the TWO YEAR PLUS pay freeze and increased extra deductions from pay for retirement for new hires are PERMANENT. A one-time day off, when it’s likely little productivity would be lost, has plenty of precedent. One would think MAYBE some small…[Read more]

There is ample precedent for granting this bonus holiday. Since pay has been frozen for 2 years, and very possibly for a third, this bonus holiday would at least be some recognition of the sacrifice Federal employees have made, a sacrifice no other group has had imposed on them. I’m not interested in what private sector employees get-if I wanted…[Read more]

The NFC website said that payments would be delayed, as the first pass of PAYE would run Friday, and the second pass would run Saturday. My direct deposit was in my bank account this morning, as I expected, since banks were closed Monday for Labor Day.

He definitely should follow the lead of his own father, who released 12 years of his tax returns when he ran. Every other candidate for President in the past 30 or so years has released multiple years of returns. The only reason Romney refuses to level with the American people is because he has calculated that what is on his returns is worse than…[Read more]

Yes, Wake County, NC ( Raleigh ) offers online payment of property taxes, and the NC Dept.of Motor Vehicles allows online payment of annual registration renewals, as well as online payment and ordering of duplicate drivers licenses. Wake County charges more for card payments, but checking account payments have no extra charges.

There is no question that I would make more in the private sector. It’s a given for my position. However, dealing with all the other stuff, having to put up with a lot that isn’t tolerated in the Federal workplace, and the lack of a contract and union protection make private sector employment very unattractive to me.

The overall tax burden for individuals ( Federal, State, and local combined ) is at it’s lowest point in 50 years. How anybody can say with a straight face that any segment of American society is over-taxed is simply astonishing. Also, the top income tranches enjoy a grossly disproportionate share of total income and wealth. They should be taxed…[Read more]

I agree with you, Mark, when you state people have a right to sincerely held beliefs. They do. They do not have a right to impose those beliefs on others. As for the supposed religious origins of marriage, I have to point out that there are civil, secular regulations regarding marriage in the Code of Hammurabi, which vastly predates the major…[Read more]

Exactly. Marriage is by definition a legal status, and our Constitution guarantees equal protection under law to all citizens. Religion doesn’t enter into the discussion. Whether a particular sect or cult chooses to recognize or not recognize a legal marriage between two eligible citizens who happen to be of the same gender is up to that sect, but…[Read more]

Personal phone calls during work time, running into the manager’s office to whine about some trivial thing every day, stalling and taking twice as long as needed in order to avoid work top my list.

None of those proposals are within the Service’s ability. We cannot just “discard” legally required responsibilities, or ignore laws we may not like or agree with. Congress makes the tax laws-IRS does not, but must enforce all tax laws with fairness and impartiality. Please identify where, in the current budget, are sufficient funds to ” develop a…[Read more]

We have already had to scale back services. IRS has been under a hiring freeze for 2 fiscal years now, with a very large proportion of the workforce eligible to retire. Congress cuts our budget while adding new responsibilities. We’re already doing as much as humanly possible. I’d welcome specific suggestions from those who think ” doing more with…[Read more]

Learned to drive a manual on a neighbor’s Rambler American with ” three on the tree”. Then “4 on the floor ” became the cool thing, and you never saw column shift again.

Mine was a 1976 Plymouth Arrow. It was made by Mitsubishi and re-badged as a Plymouth. It was a stripped down economy car, with a 5-speed manual transmission. I drove that thing for almost 10 years and 180,000 miles. It was a hideous yellow color, but since my parents bought it for me, I couldn’t really complain.

According to snopes.com, this is a mixture of true and false information. While such legislation has been introduced, it is a pet cause of one particular Representative, and has little or no chance of passage. The proverbial tempest in a teapot.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/debtfree.asp

IRS has so many acronyms and special terms that we have to have access to a special glossary, as each division has lots of acronyms and terms that they use but are not familiar to employees in other divisions. I would estimate the list for all divisions combined would run to 30 pages or more.

1. Right on, Christopher and Ed. The source of the misplaced anger is politicians and partisan think tanks spreading lies and misinformation for their own craven purposes. Preventing these types from being elected, or re-elected is crucial. As for being the first to decry $18 muffins, how about being the first to do a little homework ? There were no…

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