Mr. President, Call Off the I.R.S.!

Home again, home again!

And already emailing the Young President.

It seems that the I.R.S. will tax BP's restitution payments made to those affected by the Gulf oil mess at the same rate as ordinary income. What a nice little windfall for empty government coffers at the expense of people losing their livelihoods, cultures, and property!

Having recently flown over the Gulf a couple of times and personally witnessing the vast expanse of that abomination, I can attest that there is no easy fix on the "horizon" (pardon the unpleasant pun).

And with all the new info we peons get day by day (such as the government was made aware of problems with the Deepwater drill site as early as February of this year, yet took no action), and tropical weather brewing in the Caribbean and Gulf, a certainty is coming into focus: as a region of the United States of America, down here in the Gulf South we're screwed.

Without even getting a teeny weeny smooch. Or even a Value Meal dinner at McDonald's.

So, I'm joining in FairTax.org's mass email effort to ease a little of the pain facing all those folks whose lives have been irreparably damaged: Mr. President, CALL OFF THE I.R.S.!!!

Here's my version of the email template:

Re: IRS Reg to tax oil spill payments: Gulf South v. NYC

The people and economies of the Gulf Coast states have suffered enough because of the catastrophic oil spill, but the worst may not yet have been seen. It is neither
fair nor just that the IRS will now tax the relief checks paid out to residents by British Petroleum.

I begrudgingly accept that the Gulf South isn't as important to you or your administration as the northeast; nonetheless, please direct the IRS to forgo any taxation of these relief payments as was done in New York after the 9/11 attack.

Mr. President, this is the right thing to do for our fellow countrymen.

Please act now to direct that these payments go untaxed so that those who have been so hard hit are not asked to give more out of empty pockets next April 15th.

The magnitude of this disaster justifies this compassionate exception to the rules.

(For clarity, Sir: "com·pas·sion (km-pshn) n. Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. See Synonyms at pity." Emphasis mine.)

Most sincerely,
MoogieP

You can send yours here, if it strikes your fancy. Let 'em have it!