Sometimes I just sadly shake my head and walk away. The things that I have seen the government do just continue to amaze me. I believe that the individual government departments could be downsized 90% if we just got back to common sense. For example...
My closing for today was supposed to have closed Tuesday but didn't because of the IRS. There is a form filed out and approved by the IRS in many closings that allows the lender to pull the Buyer's tax forms at a later date for auditing reasons. This is usually a rubber stamp approval process, but not this time. The Buyer's current address is located on a road whose name ends in Trail. Now, for years he has filed his income taxes with the address listed as Trl, the abbreviation accepted by the US Postal service. When this form was sent to the IRS for approval it contained the shortened Trl form of the address. It bounced. And bounced. And bounced again.
The Buyer spent 45 minutes on hold with the IRS, TWICE!, yesterday to figure out what the issue was. Now, if I were to calculate the time and expense that this little episode cost and multiply it by the millions of people who have issues every day with the IRS, I think I can now explain why the government is running such a huge deficit!
My goodness. I am constantly in awe at how we as a nation can turn a small paperwork issue into such a giant problem, requiring hours of time to fix. I am not just harping on the IRS either. Take your pick of the DMV, post office, or any other large government office. And oh by the way...If the IRS is watching, I live at 123 Main Trail...or is it Trl?
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