Kind of puts the Austin IRS airplane attack in a new light

This began as a local story in today's Sacramento Bee, but I see that by the end of the day, Drudge had picked it up. The story begins like this:

It was every businessperson's nightmare.

Arriving at Harv's Metro Car Wash in midtown Wednesday afternoon were two dark-suited IRS agents demanding payment of delinquent taxes. "They were deadly serious, very aggressive, very condescending," says Harv's owner, Aaron Zeff....

And what was the amount in question that necessitated a not-so-friendly visit from the Infernal Revenue Service? Try four cents. That's: $0.04. The sick part is that through additional taxes and penalties, that $0.04 had become $202.35.

How much money was wasted - between the salaries of the two IRS agents to the gas and maintenance for their vehicle - in order to collect the $0.04? Forget the imaginary $202.31 that was tacked on to the bill. This tells you that the motivation wasn't about money. This about the pure and diabolical bureaucratic need to bully and control people, and establish who is in charge.

While suicidally flying your airplane into the side of an IRS office building is taking it too far, we Americans did used to break out the tar and feathers for situations like this. The two agents could have easily cleaned up afterwards; after all, they were at a car wash.

Good Day to You, Sir