Opinion : The gift of love from Congress and the IRS

We like to think of government agencies as cold, unfeeling and impersonal.

Especially the IRS.

Not so.

This year, the IRS has a special gift for us, the American taxpayer.

This year, the IRS will begin processing millions of electronically-filed tax returns on Valentine’s Day.

The delay was caused – as you might expect – by Congress, which was too busy playing politics in October to pass the laws necessary for taxpayers to file their returns until December. This, of course, meant the IRS had to make last-minute changes.

The timing, though, is ironic. Valentine’s Day is a Sunday; the next day, Feb. 15, is President’s Day. Neither day, of course, is a day for work for the IRS. But they chose Valentine’s Day over President’s Day as the day to begin processing returns.

So, Happy Valentine’s Day from the IRS.

It makes you wonder what other days that other government bodies may choose to as a day to start doing what they should have been doing a long time ago.

And Congress itself can start this, by passing a balanced budget – on April Fool’s Day.