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Thursday, April 30, 2015
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
5 TIPS WHEN CALLING THE IRS
This past Wednesday, IRS Commissioner “Honest John” Koskinen appeared before a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, where he apparently told the truth about how the IRS deals with customers (i.e. schlubs like you and me). Based on his revelations, we’ve put together this handy list of tips you ought to keep in mind if you have to go through the torture of contacting the IRS.
1. Don’t even bother calling. Koskinen said more than 8 million customers were hung up on by the IRS high tech phone system.
2. If you ignore tip number one and insist on calling the IRS, don’t expect to talk to an actual person, as only 40 percent of those who called got to speak to a live human.
3. Whether or not you talk to a machine or a live human, start with very low expectations. Koskinen admits “Customer service, both on the phone and in person has been much far worse than anyone would want,”
4.
Don’t expect a “smidgen” of customer service at an IRS office either. After
waiting and waiting, you’ll hear excuses
like, “It’s simply a matter of not having enough people to answer the phones
and provide service at our walk-in sites as a result of cuts to our budget.”
Only 110,000 walk-in customers received answers to tax law questions, which was 685,000 fewer than the 795,000 handled a decade earlier. And the IRS has abandoned helping elderly, disabled and low-income people prepare their returns at those sites.
They will almost certainly blame all the non-service on “budget cuts” and the added burden of having to manage Obamacare. What they’ll conveniently “forget” to mention is the money they diverted to pay for:
Only 110,000 walk-in customers received answers to tax law questions, which was 685,000 fewer than the 795,000 handled a decade earlier. And the IRS has abandoned helping elderly, disabled and low-income people prepare their returns at those sites.
They will almost certainly blame all the non-service on “budget cuts” and the added burden of having to manage Obamacare. What they’ll conveniently “forget” to mention is the money they diverted to pay for:
- Millions of dollars in bonuses and giving tens of thousands of paid vacation hours to employees with recently substantiated conduct issues and disciplinary actions, including bonuses to 1,100 employees owing back taxes;
- Spending over $23 million and more than 500,000 working hours devoted to union activity, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars for union travel expenses;
- Spending billions of dollars every year on information technology systems – roughly twenty percent of its entire budget.
Maybe they need to take some of those IRS employees who were busy targeting conservative and pro-Israel groups and individuals and have them answer the phones and handle walk-ins. Just sayin’…
5. And finally, be sure to pay you’re taxes — unless of course you’re Al Sharpton, Hollywood celebrities, assorted politicians, or an actual federal employee. According to USA Today, last year it was reported that federal employees owe a total of $3.3 billion in back taxes to the federal government-which is to say YOU, the American tax payer. Thirty-six employees in the Executive Office of the President are delinquent on their taxes, for a rate of 2.06 percent. In case you are an IRS employee who owes back taxes DONT WORRY-YOU WILL STILL GET THAT BONUS! More than 1,100 employees who failed to pay their taxes received discretionary awards of more than $1 million in cash bonuses and more than 10,000 hours in extra paid vacation.
At least five employees received performance awards after being disciplined for intentionally under-reporting their tax liabilities for multiples years, paying taxes late and under-reporting income.
Like many companies and government agencies, the IRS sweetens the deal for its employees by giving bonuses based on performance. But at the IRS, breaking the federal tax laws you were hired to enforce and running afoul of other agency rules aren’t considered relevant to performance-based awards.
Good luck with that call!
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Saturday, April 18, 2015
A HINT WORTH REPEATING - TROUBLE WITH GETTING YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS TO PICK UP AFTER THEMSELVES? HERE'S A SOLUTION.
THE PICTURE SAYS IT ALL:
I did something similar to this when my girls were little, but without the cute poem.
WOMEN TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF IS CRUCIAL FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF OTHERS. STILL NOT DOING IT?
Women, you have heard it before, taking care of yourself is crucial for
you to be able to take care of others.
Still not doing it? Then this is a
must read book for you.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Saturday, April 11, 2015
YES, THERE ARE WELL PAYING JOBS OUT THERE THAT DO NOT NEED A COLLEGE DEGREE...AND THEY ARE HIRING!
Dear Readers:
This is a subject I have discussed before on my web page. Those in higher education push that myth that you can't get ahead if you don't have a college degree, Bull Feathers! There are jobs in the "trades" that are going unfilled. By trades I mean, truck drivers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, mechanics, etc. The trouble is our secondary educators have bought into the myth and no longer have or have cut down on vocational education in our high schools.
Today, I came across an article that supports my premiss. Take some time to read it. I have posted an excerpt with a link to the entire article below:
The great conundrum of the U.S. economy today is that we have record
numbers of working age people out of the labor force at the same time we
have businesses desperately trying to find workers.
As an example, the American Transportation Research Institute estimates
there are 30,000-35,000 trucker jobs that could be filled tomorrow if
workers would take these jobs- a shortage that could rise to 240,000 by
2022.
While the jobs market overall remains weak, demand is high in certain sectors. For skilled and reliable mechanics, welders, engineers, electricians,
plumbers, computer technicians, and nurses, jobs are plentiful; one can
often find a job in 48 hours.
As Bob Funk, the president of Express Services, which matches almost
half a million temporary workers with employers each year, said, “If you
have a useful skill, we can find you a job. But too many are graduating
from high school and college without any skills at all.”
The lesson, to play off of the famous Waylon Jennings song: Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be philosophy majors.
Three years ago the chronic disease of the economy was a shortage of
jobs. This shortage persists in many sectors. But two other shortages
are now being felt—the shortage of trained employees and of low-skilled
employees willing to work.
Patrick Doyle, the president of Domino’s Pizza, says that the
franchises around the country are having a hard time filling delivery
and clerical positions. “It’s a very tight labor market out there now.”
This shortage has an upside for workers because it allows them to bid
up wages. When Wal-Mart announced last month that wages for many
starter workers would rise to $9 an hour, well above the federal legal
minimum, they weren’t being humanitarians. They were responding to a
tightening labor market.
The idea that blue-collar jobs aren’t a pathway to the middle class
and higher is antiquated and wrong. Factory work today is often highly
sophisticated and knowledge-based with workers using intricate
scientific equipment.
After several years honing their skills, welders, mechanics, carpenters, and technicians can, earn upwards of $50,000 a year—which
in most years still places a household with two such income earners in
the top 25 percent for income. It’s true these aren’t glitzy or cushy
jobs, but they do pay a good salary.
So why aren’t workers filling these available jobs—or getting the
skills necessary to fill them. I would posit these impediments to
putting more Americans back to work:
Link to the entire article: CLICK HERE
Friday, April 10, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
LAUGH FOR THE DAY - FARMER AND HIS MULE
Farmer Joe decided his injuries from the accident were
serious enough to take the tracking company responsible for the accident to
court. In court the trucking company's fancy lawyer was questioning Farmer Joe.
"Didn't you say at the scene of the accident, ‘I'm fine.””
asked the lawyer.
Farmer Joe responded, "Well, I’ll tell you what
happened. I just loaded my favorite new mule, Bessie, into the…"
"I didn't asked for any details," the lawyer
interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not say at the scene of
the accident, ‘I'm fine!’"
Farmer Joe said, "Well, I had just gotten Bessie into
the trailer and I was driving down the road…"
The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am
trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told
the highway patrolman on the scene that he was fine. Now several weeks after
the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to
simply answer the question."
By this time the judge was fairly interested in Farmer Joe's
answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say."
Joe thanked the judge and proceeded, "Well, as I was
saying, I had just loaded Bessie into the trailer and was driving her down the
highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my
truck right in the side. I was thrown
into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn't want to
move. However, I could hear ol’ Bessie moaning and growing. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her
grounds. Shortly after the accident a
highway patrolman came on the scene. He
could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her, he took out his gun
and shot her between the eyes. Then the
patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me."
He said, "Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are you feeling?"
"Now what the hell would you say?"
Monday, April 6, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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