Why, why, why did it take this long for me to figure out? Businesses do it all the time. Consumers do it all the time too. I’ve even done it. I bet you’ve done it too. But, not quite the same as what I have in mind now.

The last time you bought a faulty appliance such as a hair dryer that didn’t heat, you took it back to get your money returned or to exchange it for another. What about the meal that wasn’t cooked to suit your persnickety ways or perhaps just looked plain ugly? You probably took one of six actions:

Ate the meal with a smile and without telling your server or management,

Asked your server to have the cook make it right,

Complained to management,

Left in a huff without eating ,

Made a scene as a way of telling other patrons the restaurant is a fraud,

Ate the meal and then refused to pay.

The point
Whatever, unless you quietly ate with a smile, you did something to correct the situation. You did something to get what you expected.

Sue the …
It seems we all want to sue someone for something even if we have to make up a reason or alter the facts to fit our goals. Good luck in an effort to sue a restaurant for inconvenience. You may succeed, however, if you are like the woman at a New Mexico McDonald’s. The court awarded an 81-year old woman a large amount of money due to pain and suffering from a hot cup of coffee that spilled on her lap.

Then, there is something called specific performance, a court order that a party complete its contractual agreement as promised. From what I remember from my school days about the law pertaining to specific performance, a house builder, for example, must place a stairway precisely (specifically) as agreed upon in the contract. The parties can agree to amending the contract and thereby void the original specifications.

Be patient for I’m working up to what I have in mind with respect to the first paragraph.

Our esteemed (ha) elected officials
Granted, it would be mighty hard making those Washington guys and gals (heck with political correctness since there is nothing correct in politics) keep their campaign promises or even do the right thing in the absence of promises. No complaining to the manager here and no chance of a lawsuit forcing politicians to keep promises. And, we don’t have the remedy of specific performance when a president hopeful doesn’t follow through as promised.

But, there is a way. A way that will give the IRS a headache but could be effective if enough of us will just do it. It’s just a small way we can protest and tell our elected officials that we, the people who are suppose to be in charge, are unhappy with the servants. It might work better than floods of letters to our Washington servants.

I know what I propose won’t happen. It won’t happen because:

Most people will not want to suffer the consequences, whatever they might be,

Most people who actually pay taxes are out working and likely don’t know all the misinformation coming out of Washington,

The resulting confusion will delay refunds,

Some people blindly put their faith in our elected officials and won‘t want to get involved,

Some people are apathetic.

Political leverage - income tax
No, I do not suggest we refuse to pay taxes. We should pay taxes. Personally, I enjoy the comforts and security money spent for legitimate purposes bring. But, the word legitimate is the key word and also the rub.

Instead, pay your income taxes due April 15 and send in form 1040 or form 4868 if you wish an extension. But, send the payment and form in different envelopes. The confusion we create will tell our servants we mean business.

I haven’t found in my tax code research any information about a penalty for this approach but you should do your research as well.

If enough of us band together and make our reasons known in public forums, our politicians will catch on.

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