TEXT ONLY VERSION

The CAP Asks: What do YOU Think? You pay a utility bill to have electricity and all the benefits that come with it - imagine trying to surf the Net or watch television without electricity! Similarly, you pay taxes to have a federal government and all the benefits that come with it. Like the billing department of a utility company, the Internal Revenue Service is the collector (not the tax law maker); and in both cases, there is a need for good customer service. Okay, that's a new concept for the IRS. Some might even say radically new and be skeptical. Nonetheless, a genuine effort to provide real customer service is underway both internally through IRS management and policy changes, as well as externally through the independent CAP - your CAP here in the Brooklyn District! Here's what some of you are saying about those efforts: "I got the CAP's toll-free number from an article in the New York Daily News. I called with some procedural problems, thinking I'd have to make an appointment and come in with a tax lawyer. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all the problems were solved right on the phone with no need for a tax lawyer." - Call-in, week of 05 April, 1999. Our own CAP member, Tony Fandozzi attended a Problem Solving Day at the IRS and encountered a taxpayer who seemed so happy, Tony asked if he had just won the lottery. No, said the taxpayer, but a long-standing issue he had with the IRS had been settled that very day. "Are you satisfied?" asked Tony. "Yes sir," the man replied, "One-hundred percent plus. And make sure you add the plus." At the same Problem Solving Day, several taxpayers commented on how helpful and "very courteous" were the IRS people. Well, it's a beginning. Just the beginning. More to follow. . . Back to Local Mission