IRS Marketing

Have you seen the latest IRS handout? It is an envelope size paper that reads, "We have money that's probably yours. Please come and get it. Thanks a bunch, the IRS." The illustration accompanying it is a large white bag, with money falling out.

Does anyone see the irony in this? "We have money that's probably yours." Yes, you certainly do! There's no probably about it. Over the years, you have taken a lot of money that is mine. And then they taunt us by saying, "Please come and get it." I'd love to come and get it, but that is illegal. They won't even let me file late without some sort of penalty. I'll bet if you went to an IRS office, it would be in a building with metal detectors and guards at all of the entrances. Please come and get it. Yeah, right.

And then the ending, "Thanks a bunch, the IRS." The obvious meaning to this is to thank us for the laughter they got while writing the ad and from the subsequent thinking about us poor slobs trying to come and get it. I imagine they get a lot of laughs from picturing us in handcuffs, being led away to a Federal prison.