I received a call from the tax department one day.\u00a0 They wanted me to submit my tax returns for the preceding four years.\u00a0 Now anyone who has ever gotten a call from the tax man knows what a panic attack feels like.\u00a0 While I can\u2019t solve the panic attack problem \u2013 I can tell you that I have figured out how to deal with most government agencies successfully.\u00a0 Or at least make them go away.<\/p>\n
The key is to be polite, be cooperative AND ask them one simple question that has only two possible answers \u2013 yes or no.\u00a0 You see, bureaucrats have strength in their anonymity \u2013 they are a collective force.\u00a0 No single bureaucrat wants to be the fall guy.\u00a0 A definitive answer from any single bureaucrat has the potential to come back and bite them in the ass.\u00a0 I called the tax department and after making sure I got the name of the person I was speaking to and then asked if they wanted me to Xerox my past returns.\u00a0 See \u2013 my question required a \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d answer. I waited twenty minutes for my question to be passed from department to department to department.\u00a0 Finally I was told to forget the entire thing.\u00a0 Unfortunately this method does not work with Arts Councils or politicians who are the greatest experts in the non-answer answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I received a call from the tax department one day. They wanted me to submit my tax returns for the preceding four years. Now anyone who has ever gotten a call from the tax man knows what a panic attack … Continue reading