Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "For most of the past thirteen years, I have used a different name, chosen by me and approved by our government, to perform the task..." (more)
Key Phrases: seizure kit, good revenue officer, drain bamaged, Laura Marsh, Jim Neyland, Rick Yancey (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Imagine if Brad Meltzer or John Grisham's first book had been a memoir about working for the Internal Revenue Service and you have an idea of just how thrilling Richard Yancey's Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS really is. Serving as a revenue agent--or, more informally, a tax collector--of the IRS for two years, Yancey went through strange transformations--from a tall, pencil-thin theater major, in an unforgiving relationship with no steady income, to a mean, muscle-wielding, unyielding revenue officer at the top of his game. What happens in between this tax collecting, money-hungry metamorphosis makes this memorable memoir the stuff of great fiction.

The Americans who shirk tax laws and responsibilities are inevitably tracked, coded, analyzed, pursued, and in general, marked for tax collection by a legion of government workers take center stage. "We have superior intelligence; we know more about our enemies' lives than they know about themselves. We know where they are. We know what they do. We know what they have. We will execute what they fear," Yancey writes. Just envision the line-up of misfits and average joes who populate the screen on Cops or America's Funniest Home Videos and you'll be close to imagining the range of people Yancey tangles with. Vengeful middle managers, hard-working small business owners, mean-spirited tax protestors, hardened tax evaders--the list of characters goes on and on. Every one of the people tracked within the walls of Yancey's local IRS office has the same, pitiful problem: the tax man cometh and the "beast needs to be fed." Equal parts love story, business tale, high-speed chase, and self-evolution, Yancey's Confessions of a Tax Collector packs plenty of human drama--all of it experienced and survived by one man. --E. Brooke Gilbert

From Publishers Weekly

After failing at a number of jobs, Yancey joined the IRS as a revenue officer in 1991 when he answered a want ad in the newspaper. As a revenue officer, Yancey was charged with collecting taxes from delinquent taxpayers. At the start of his career, Yancey was ambivalent about working for the IRS, but the longer he stayed with the organization the more seriously he took the job. A turning point came during a seizure (when the IRS seizes property from people who have been unable or unwilling to pay taxes), when Yancey stumbled across a band of tax protesters and took it as a personal challenge to root out as many protesters as possible-and in the course of doing so found himself living for his job. Yancey's account of his 12-year career starts out as a lighthearted look at his early days as an IRS trainee, but the tone is more somber and reflective as he becomes more enmeshed in his job, breaks up with his girlfriend, and finds himself isolated from nearly everyone outside of his workplace. There is a happy ending to the story, however, as Yancey marries his supervisor, quits the service and fulfills his dream of writing a book. His description of what life is like inside the IRS is generally engaging and shows the fallibility of a system that comprises, after all, men and women who have their own strengths and weaknesses.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1 edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060555602
• ISBN-13: 978-0060555603
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #409,740 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oddly Compelling, July 24, 2004

By	Elizabeth Hendry (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Admit it. You think this book is probably pretty boring. Tax Collector? Well, I assure you, it is certainly not boring; rather, it is an oddly compelling read that I just couldn't put down. (And no one is more shocked about that than I am!) Richard Yancey worked for 12 years as a revenue officer for the IRS collecting (or at least attempting to collect) unpaid employment taxes from small businesses. It was an interesting, challenging and sometimes grueling job for Yancey. Yancey's story is an interesting read for many reasons. First, he is an excellent writer. Second, the story he has to tell is interesting. His co-workers were a collection of colorful souls, all flawed, none of them the straight-laced, buttoned up type. Yancey also structures the story well and doesn't bore us with any memoir-style introspection. The book is paced well. Enjoy this one, despite any reservations you may have.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brillant....Did you see the Christian Science Monitor?, March 5, 2004

By A Customer

The reviews of this book are outstanding. This author has taken the revelation of this feared agency's secrets and weaved in a beautiul coming of age tale and love story. The critics are loving it as I am sure most readers will. Mr. Yancey has been receiving national praise. As for the O'reilly show, Fox owns the publisher, Harper Collins, so do you really think Mr. Yancey was invited on the show to discuss policy, no, it was to spread the word about this amazing book. I found it to be the best book I've read in a very long time.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm double checking my next 1040, June 1, 2004

By	Publius "publius_1788" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews

What a great book. I couldn't put it down. I had read the reviews and thought it sounded interesting, but probably would not have picked it up, but for the fact that on a visit to my local independent bookstore the author was there and doing a signing. I figured it was worth the $ to bring my wife a surprise (as she's an MBA and loathes the IRS - am I going to get audited now?). Anyway, I quickly stole the book from my wife and read it practically straight through.

Not only is Yancey (if that's his name) a great and sardonic writer, but his story actually had me laughing out loud with some frequency. And though I certainly hate paying my taxes I was comforted by his continuous message - If the Revenue Officers have been sent after a tax payer it is because that person has repeatedly ignored the IRS.

Scary though it may be to say it, I found myself having empathy for the tax-man. Yancey does paint a picture of a dysfunctional office environment, but not one very different from those I've seen in government service or the private sector. By the end not only was I rooting for him, but I was hoping he'd put away more tax protestors. After all, why should they be able to get away without paying their share while the rest of us work 4 months a year in effect to pay the government?

I would quibble with the details of his personal life at the end. They seemed forced and uncomfortable. Uncomfortable for him to write and uncomfortable for the reader to have to wade through.

Highly recommend it, for the type of laugh that sticks in your throat. I can't wait for the next installment.