The city's tax superintendent has been suspended without pay for a week for trying to inject some humor in the city income tax filing instructions. The attempt at humor by Linda Stubbs was called "misguided" by city Finance Director John Lyons. The forms - with such lines as, "If we can tax it, we will," - were sent last week to all Middletown businesses and residents who pay city income tax. Lyons said revised forms were sent out immediately at a cost to taxpayers of about $5,500. Among the lines that city officials didn't think were very funny was this one: "Free advice: if you don't have a profit in a five-year period, you might want to consider another line of work."There is a level of professionalism that is needed for business, but customer service has never been the hallmark of government at any level. To me, this is similar to the antics of Southwest Airlines. Taxes, like emergency instructions, are a necessary evil. Adding an element of humor can be a very nice touch.
Remind me to never move to a CITY with it’s own income tax. Taxing my income twice is quite enough.
Some people are just a little too uptight for everyday life.
Too bad
The death of humor in America. The PC police won’t be happy until all of us take every situation in life like a liberal. Whaaaaa!
Finally, some honesty from someone in Government. I think Linda Stubbs should run for the Mayor of Middletown! Another alternative - when politicians talk about the “social security turst fund” (there is no such thing), they should be put on an unpaid leave!
If you haven’t made a profit in 5 years, consider a new line of work? If I fit that description, I’d probably head over to city hall with a bazooka (my dad is a builder - very up and down, so I can testify that being in that situation is no fun).
Look, there’s off-color humor, and then there’s just plain retarded and obnoxious. That tax form clearly falls into the latter category.
Actually, the 5 year rule is something the IRS thought up. Too many people were classifying their hobby as a business so they could deduct their spending as business expenses. Thus the IRS decided that if your business doesn’t show a profit after 5 years, you cannot deduct the expenses from it.
This is just a friendly way to make that point. I too have been in that position (self-employed) and have struggled through the highs and lows (like 6 months of no work) but this is still funny to me.
Ah yes, good old Linda Stubbs.......the wart on Ohio’s butt. What a freaking idiot!!
She might be a wart (I wouldn’t know) but she is a funny wart. (A funny fanny wart?)
http://king-of-fools.com/blog/trackback/1664/Dj3Nq4QG/