While this is surely a warranted and useful document in its own right, I can't help but tell my own story of "Frivolous IRS Wastefulness" as a counter-balance.

While this is surely a warranted and useful document in its own right, I can't help but tell my own story of "Frivolous IRS Wastefulness" as a counter-balance. Some in the US might remember a year when the 'Estate Tax' was suspended - that is, if a relative died and passed along an inheritance amount, it wasn't taxable like in years prior or once the suspension expired after 2010. As a recipient of some funds - a mid single digit thousand figure - from my maternal relative passing, I paid off my credit card and - this was my mistake - included the amount received in some kind of 'income' field. This set into motion one of the most ridiculous, patience-testing exchanges in my adult life. In mid-2011, they sent me a letter wanting a check for $X,XXX. I wrote back a clear explanation of the error in question - that the funds were an inheritance and not subject to the taxes being claimed. I sent it via FedEx, and eventually got a response. They still wanted the entire $X,XXX! This back and forth - me being as polite and stubborn as possible in writing - and the IRS kept wanting money, offering no proof why the amount they claimed owed was actually owed (I asked repeatedly for citations). This went on for a FULL YEAR. In the second to last correspondence, I had pages and pages of the 2010 tax code included, with relevant highlights, obscure forms...yet still felt taking a polite (if a bit dense) tone would be better than getting angry, you know, poking a gorilla with a stick kind of thing. In the end, I sucked it up and sent them about $150, what they eventually came down to after all this time, just to get them to shut up. The IRS, without question, wasted time, resources, and money stubbornly pursuing money that they weren't entitled to at all. So, while I respect their power and genuinely believe in their mission to acquire funds to keep the government working in its basic fashion, I have absolutely no pity for staff members who have to read through line after line of bullshit excuses, because they do it too.