A cheap shot
The front page of the July 25-Aug. 7, 2005, issue of Accounting Today is a real cheap shot, to put it mildly. Lousy journalism gets closer. The "H&R cell block?" headline is in very poor taste.
For those of us in the tax practitioner community, Block is a key player. Some are comfortable with that fact. Some are not. Most of their people are highly reputable and qualified tax preparers. The corporation has always been a cash cow. Management appears to be using that cash to leverage into related businesses. Nothing new or disreputable in that kind of thinking.
The topic discussed in the article, which makes no reference to Block whatsoever, is one with which the Internal Revenue Service has been intimately familiar for more years than they would ever admit. Their ability/willingness to deal with the problem is less than commendable.
Your publication has a decent reputation. Why resort to that sort of journalism on page 1?
Bob Reynolds
Noblesville, Ind.
The editors reply: No connection between H&R Block and the illegal activities described in the article was intended. We simply found the pun irresistible.
