I've always wanted to send a letter to the IRS or state department of revenue that starts out with that line. Today my dream was fulfilled.

There's a 19 year old kid that we've informally adopted. His dad has been in prison for years, and his mom is a meth addict. He was basically homeless during high school, so we stepped in and helped him get a job and an apartment so he could have a shot of making something of his life. He has very few practical life skills because he had no parenting growing up, so I help him with things like car maintenance and repairs and doing his taxes.

I showed him how to do his tax return for 2020, and he's been waiting on his state refund for 6 months. He uses our home address because he doesn't stay long in one apartment. Yesterday he got a notice from the state department of revenue in our mail. They made an adjustment to his 2020 tax return. Instead of the $12,600 in income he made and reported last year, they decided they were going to tax him on $126,000 of income. Clearly someone at the DOR put an extra zero in his income, then failed to recognize their error. Then they sent out a demand notice telling him that he needed to pay an extra $11,000 in taxes, interest, and penalties.

So I sent a letter to the DOR for him responding. After asking them if they are doing drugs on the job, I offered to pay the taxes they claim are owed if they were willing to send a check for the extra $114,000 of income they say he earned. Or they can send him his tax refund of $243 that his tax return says he's entitled to. It's up to them.

I'm hoping they really are smoking crack and send the $114,000.