Taxes: A Kinder Collector

A Kinder Collector

Anyone who shortchanges Uncle Sam at tax time can expect that, with virtually the same certainty as death, a dunning notice will follow. But when someone overpays the IRS, the reaction is sometimes silence. Thanks to Linda Johnson, an IRS examiner in Memphis, that will soon change. She complained to her Senator, Democrat Albert Gore, that when taxpayers in certain categories failed to subtract already withheld sums in calculating what they owe the Treasury, the IRS simply pocketed their surplus payment without telling them. Urging superiors to change the rules so these people will get refunds, she argued, "It was stealing...

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