LETTERS: IRS SERVICE CUT LAMENTED

To the editor:

In response to Chuck Miller's March 21 article concerning the Internal Revenue Service cutbacks, I agree that the lack of common sense in another of our executive-branch bureaucracies is unfortunate, although I'm not at all surprised. What saddens me is the lack of response by the IRS public affairs representatives. The IRS obviously limits what it permits its employees to discuss publicly, thus placing competent personnel in an non-defensible position with regard to recent taxpayer service cutbacks. If our tax-service representatives cannot discuss such matters, then the IRS's public affairs representative should be obligated to respond.

Our taxpayers service representative in Cape Girardeau, Barbara Johnson, offers 15 years of expertise and diligently assists people with tax problems until all their questions have been answered. While amending several tax returns and working to timely file my current tax return, Mrs. Johnson has provided me with several courteous and highly productive meetings. She provided me with all the necessary forms and took the time to clearly explain their sometimes complex directions, thus educating me to perhaps face the jungle of tax time on my own in years ahead.

Taxpayer-service reduction is a genuine loss to the community and will certainly predict an increase in wrongly filed returns and future audits by the IRS, thereby inflating another government bureaucracy and its allocated spending. It remains the front-government employees who carry the burden of reduced workdays and an increased workload, while the individual taxpayer spends more for less opportunity for service.

Maybe next year we will see the return of taxpayer assistance to a full-time service, and if we are truly fortunate, it will be provided by a committed talent like Barbara Johnson.

ROBERT S. LANIER

Cape Girardeau