Confessions of a Tax Collector

February 7th, 2006, 10:09 am Josh Houghtelin Books

Zippy bought this book for a couple bucks and for some reason I picked it up and started reading it. I enjoyed it. It was’t a very fufilling read nor a very entertaining or educating one but I still liked it never the less. Here is my summary for those who don’t wish to read it. For those who do, do not read any further.

The book moreover I would say is a sucess story more than anything else. It tells a tale of Richard Yancey and how he succeeded as a person with the help of the IRS. Rick was a nobody with virtualy no accomplishments before he went in. His artillary was limited to his english major and a laundry list of odd jobs. The first half of the book is his first year in the IRS (the service). He bloomed realizing he was finaly good at something while soaking up the power trip. The first half of the book also displays the disinigration of his relationship with his wife along with his social life as he becomes empowered within by the feeling of accomplishment attained through working. Rick has a personal struggle through the whole book but it leans more toward him finding himself. His initial officer appointed to train him had a huge affect on him. Cullpepper was his name and he was as hard as nails and empty as it seemed. He was smart and used a lot of analogies. Rick consulted him quite a bit during more troublesome parts of his duty even though Cullpepper was relocated due to assult on someone. Just as rick finished his training, one year with the service, he ran across a protester case. Protesters play the ‘taxes are optional, I’m opting out of a social security number’ game but bleed the government of the money others pay nevermind they ‘chose’ to opt out. He found out he loved to bring down protesters. He found his niche, he’s on top of the game, he gets the promotions, he deals with the office drama regularly, his splits up with his wife, starts beefing up his skinny 6′ 130lb body as to be ‘perfect’. He was, after all, on a power trip. He ends up falling in love with his boss who was being relocated 700 miles away. His superiors tell him he’s crushing his career but instead he steps on his superiors, goes straight to the top & takes care of business. He lost his fear of himself and his inabilities, He got what he wanted, he married his super hot boss, and eventualy quit to write the book about it. The man went from nothing to everything, from a pussy to a demigod. Somewhere in there, near the end to play some emotions and wrap up all the analogies cullpeper gave him he ended up saving a bleeding dog who got hit on the road. Everyone gets their hands bloody, and most of the time in the service it wasn’t by choice, but sometimes you have the choice.

Overall, there is a lot of good cases in the book. I’m skipping explaining them becuase most of them covered are nearly 100% stereotypical. His first siezure leaving a man w/nothing but a teddy bear in his hands. His first dog (drug out case) that ended in taking a ladys house many years later. His battle with the protestors who thought they could beat the IRS and so on. At the very end however it says the act RR98′ changed the service entirely. No more harassing the tax payer. The service must have gotten dull. hehe.

Let’s see what is on the shelf next.