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Confessions of a Tax Collector: One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS
Twelve years ago, Richard Yancey answered a blind ad in the newspaper offering a salary higher than what he’d made over the three previous years combined. It turned out that the job was for the Internal Revenue Service -- the most hated and feared organization in the federal government. So Yancey became the man who got in his car, drove to your house, knocked on your door, and made you pay. Never mind that his car was littered with candy wrappers, his palms were sweaty, and he couldn’t remember where he stashed his own tax records. He was there on the authority of the United States government. With "a rich mix of humor, horror, and angst [and] better than most novels on the bestseller lists" ( Boston Sunday Globe ), Confessions of a Tax Collector contains an astonishing cast of too-strange-for-fiction characters. But the most intriguing character of all is Yancey himself who -- in detailing how the job changed him and how he managed to pull himself back from the brink of moral, ethical, and spiritual bankruptcy -- reveals what really lies beneath those dark suits and mirrored sunglasses. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
August 18, 2019
Someone said you can live multiple lives by reading books. I most likely won't be a Revenue Officer working for IRS (at least not in this life), so this book shows you what it will take to be one. It makes me laugh and cry, it shows that tax people are not soulless cogs in big machine, but living creatures with their fear, desires, dreams. This book is highly recommended, it's not about tax, it's about life.
May 30, 2008
This book started out as an informative peek into life working for the IRS. unfortunately the author started trying to tie in his own descent into madness -maybe related to his job, but it sounds like he was kind of strange bird to begin with - but I found his whole downward spiral a little boring. I didnt really care about him or get why he was turning into such a freak. I mean what kind of man wears colored contacts? granted this was the early-to-mid-nineties. anyhow, it did make me wonder how the hell anyone thinks they can get away with not paying large amounts of taxes. I would probably get very cynical and bitter if I were an IRS revenue officer. I was not wild about this book.
June 21, 2013
I really liked this book. It was a nice surprise to stumble across this entertaining and surprisingly insightful memoir. I almost gave it 5 stars, but maybe held back because you just can't give the taxman THAT much love ; )
February 25, 2013
Subtitled "One Man's Tour of Duty Inside the IRS". Richard Yancey, not the name he worked under, served as a Revenue Officer for approximately thirteen years, some of it in North Florida. As a long time IRS employee myself (19 years, 10 months), although not in Collections, I was interested to see what Yancey had to say.
I'm sorry to report that I was somewhat disappointed. Although the technical side is dead on and I'll be among the first to admit that there are strange people both in and out of the Service, the level of exaggeration and lack of balance ruined the experience for me. Yancey, a frustrated writer, takes the various archetypes and melds them into the people he knew through his career. Again, Florida does have some fantastically stupid, annoying, and aggravating people working there, particularly in positions of management, but there's a fine line between non-fiction and fiction. To my mind, Yancey pushed a bit too far over it.
If asked, I would say that this is a book that would be better read by a current or former IRS employee, especially someone who had the experience of working with or around Revenue Officers. Outsiders would definitely get the wrong idea about the Service, either thinking all are crazy or dismissing the real moments as pure fiction.
Yancey is extraordinarily honest about his own issues, from a lack of self-esteem that even causes him to allow his fiancee to physically and emotionally beat him up. That is something he himself also does, first by trying to emulate one of his first On-the-Job Instructors, later by exercising to the extreme in an effort to change his physical appearance. I would hope that his barely glimpsed epiphany near the end of the book was sufficient to enrich his life and those around him.
My own personal story in regards to my time with the IRS was fantastically wonderful for almost 14 years, uncomfortable for two, and pure hell for the last three years, until I couldn't take it any longer and quit. A miscalculation by the IRS personnel office made me leave shy of my 20, but I cannot regret it. It was during the last year of my mother's life and I would not have been able to dedicate my attention or time to my job, something that wouldn't have gone over well with my immediate managers. Abuse of power and the abuse of front-line employees was the norm in the office I worked out of, and from what other offices stated, not uncommon. Florida was infamous for the abuses and Union grievances, although nothing was ever done by upper management, so little of the complaints woven through this book surprise me.
I'm sorry to report that I was somewhat disappointed. Although the technical side is dead on and I'll be among the first to admit that there are strange people both in and out of the Service, the level of exaggeration and lack of balance ruined the experience for me. Yancey, a frustrated writer, takes the various archetypes and melds them into the people he knew through his career. Again, Florida does have some fantastically stupid, annoying, and aggravating people working there, particularly in positions of management, but there's a fine line between non-fiction and fiction. To my mind, Yancey pushed a bit too far over it.
If asked, I would say that this is a book that would be better read by a current or former IRS employee, especially someone who had the experience of working with or around Revenue Officers. Outsiders would definitely get the wrong idea about the Service, either thinking all are crazy or dismissing the real moments as pure fiction.
Yancey is extraordinarily honest about his own issues, from a lack of self-esteem that even causes him to allow his fiancee to physically and emotionally beat him up. That is something he himself also does, first by trying to emulate one of his first On-the-Job Instructors, later by exercising to the extreme in an effort to change his physical appearance. I would hope that his barely glimpsed epiphany near the end of the book was sufficient to enrich his life and those around him.
My own personal story in regards to my time with the IRS was fantastically wonderful for almost 14 years, uncomfortable for two, and pure hell for the last three years, until I couldn't take it any longer and quit. A miscalculation by the IRS personnel office made me leave shy of my 20, but I cannot regret it. It was during the last year of my mother's life and I would not have been able to dedicate my attention or time to my job, something that wouldn't have gone over well with my immediate managers. Abuse of power and the abuse of front-line employees was the norm in the office I worked out of, and from what other offices stated, not uncommon. Florida was infamous for the abuses and Union grievances, although nothing was ever done by upper management, so little of the complaints woven through this book surprise me.
May 12, 2016
So here goes nothing. I finally completed this book. What to say? Where to start? Well - I also was a Revenue Officer, working for Small Business/Self Employed section of the IRS. I basically did the same job as Rick Yancey, but back in 2007. While there, I faintly remember hearing around the office that this book was out - and how it was so highly despised by other ROs. The technical aspects that Rick describes are accurate when it comes to the IRS (like IDRS and the 809 book), but I'm not sure if it's complete hatred, or maybe it's just the feeling that he was stretching the truth about certain situations. I just felt like after reading this, he attempted to blow things out of proportion so he could sell books. Then I wonder who his target audience was - the person that doesn't know anything about the IRS (maybe), those that are in power politically (maybe, but highly unlikely). Or did he write this just for the folks in Collection, be it currently or in the past. I don't know - but I would love to ask him.
Did I enjoy reading the book? At the beginning, yes. I enjoyed seeing how he first started with the Service. Everyone has a story about their first year being nervous about making field calls, remembering their first taxpayer (I remember mine); working with their OJI. Mistakes made, lessons learned. But what I didn't like is that Rick became a monster. As a RO, you take the work home with you...in the physical sense, and also the emotional sense. It may interfere with your personal life...but not to the extreme that Rick has portrayed. I believe that some people are cut out to be ROs - and some see it as what it really is...a job. I know back in the 90s the main goal of the Service was to seize. In my mind, I just couldn't fathom that a GS-7/9 had sooo many seizures under his belt. That's unbelievable. But I don't know...maybe he's telling the truth?
Personally I feel like I should write my own follow-up to his novel. And please, he said that he had to go under another name? That was his choice. I do find it a bit suspicious that he spoke so much about disclosure - and yet isn't that what he was doing by writing this book? He may have changed the names, but I'm assuming the situations are the same.
I'm just not impressed with this book. Yes, being a RO did make me become a hardened person - but not to the extent of what he became. I could tell when taxpayers were lying; and I learned how to deal with the difficult taxpayers. Issuing levies, seizing, all difficult things to do. But they are all necessary in the grand scheme of things. Feeding the beast...I like that statement. But the job made me a better person, I truly believe that.
Did I enjoy reading the book? At the beginning, yes. I enjoyed seeing how he first started with the Service. Everyone has a story about their first year being nervous about making field calls, remembering their first taxpayer (I remember mine); working with their OJI. Mistakes made, lessons learned. But what I didn't like is that Rick became a monster. As a RO, you take the work home with you...in the physical sense, and also the emotional sense. It may interfere with your personal life...but not to the extreme that Rick has portrayed. I believe that some people are cut out to be ROs - and some see it as what it really is...a job. I know back in the 90s the main goal of the Service was to seize. In my mind, I just couldn't fathom that a GS-7/9 had sooo many seizures under his belt. That's unbelievable. But I don't know...maybe he's telling the truth?
Personally I feel like I should write my own follow-up to his novel. And please, he said that he had to go under another name? That was his choice. I do find it a bit suspicious that he spoke so much about disclosure - and yet isn't that what he was doing by writing this book? He may have changed the names, but I'm assuming the situations are the same.
I'm just not impressed with this book. Yes, being a RO did make me become a hardened person - but not to the extent of what he became. I could tell when taxpayers were lying; and I learned how to deal with the difficult taxpayers. Issuing levies, seizing, all difficult things to do. But they are all necessary in the grand scheme of things. Feeding the beast...I like that statement. But the job made me a better person, I truly believe that.
June 29, 2017
More interesting than you would imagine. Highly accurate on facts, right down to the job titles and form numbers. Funny without trying too hard. Makes you think without being too serious. Would read again (if there weren't so many other things to read!).
One caveat: the book was published in 2004 after the author's work in the mid-1990s. The IRS has gone through some significant changes since then, and so have the ways we interact with them. I'm sure the characters in the IRS and the delinquent taxpayers have similar profiles, but even those are going to have changed post-2008, as Baby Boomers retire and Millennials get their careers started.
Here's hoping that one of today's Revenue Officer's writes an updated version. But as Yancey adds in the epilogue, the number of people in the role has been reduced significantly as part of the aforementioned changes in the IRS.
One caveat: the book was published in 2004 after the author's work in the mid-1990s. The IRS has gone through some significant changes since then, and so have the ways we interact with them. I'm sure the characters in the IRS and the delinquent taxpayers have similar profiles, but even those are going to have changed post-2008, as Baby Boomers retire and Millennials get their careers started.
Here's hoping that one of today's Revenue Officer's writes an updated version. But as Yancey adds in the epilogue, the number of people in the role has been reduced significantly as part of the aforementioned changes in the IRS.
January 11, 2021
Wow, what an eye-opener! If you thought the IRS was an animal that should be feared, this book will confirm that idea in spades.
You have to be quite heartless to do the job Mr. Yancey did. He was, and he was proud of it. The stories of how people let their tax payments go (which is NEVER a good idea) were astonishing. Even moreso was his ability to be all business with very little concern for the people he was dealing with. And he truly seemed to enjoy it.
It was a good book to read if you want to see the inner workings of a tax collection agency. You'll never be late on your taxes again.
You have to be quite heartless to do the job Mr. Yancey did. He was, and he was proud of it. The stories of how people let their tax payments go (which is NEVER a good idea) were astonishing. Even moreso was his ability to be all business with very little concern for the people he was dealing with. And he truly seemed to enjoy it.
It was a good book to read if you want to see the inner workings of a tax collection agency. You'll never be late on your taxes again.
March 27, 2009
Basically a really strange cross between a tell-all book about the IRS in the 1990s and one guy’s mental bender. The stuff about the crazy tax deadbeats is interesting, but interoffice politics and his exercise routine are not. I thought the ending was going to come about 50 pages beforehand and so the last pages felt like wading through muck. The author is pretty much a jerk for most of the book, but it sounds like his completely messed-up relationship contributed a lot to that. He definitely made his life more difficult and dramatic than it needed to be.
August 6, 2014
Who knew what went on behind the closed and mysterious doors of the IRS? Well, Richard Yancey did and now we all knows what goes on. As Richard transforms from a mild-mannered English major into a badass "Feed the Beast" revenue officer, we are along his journey, every step of the way. His girlfriend leaves him, he smokes too much and he learns to take someone's home and sleep through the night after doing so. This book was funny, sad, entertaining and a little scary...
April 17, 2021
**********Spoilers!!!**********
Book club assignment.
The first third of this "memoir" was actually engaging--a look into one of the most reviled professions and someone's reluctant but enlightening journey--even if it was peppered with rather derivative-sounding melodrama.
In the last two thirds of the book, however, the hackneyed melodrama wasn't just peppered, but poured in. There was genuine opportunity here to give a real person's perspective on the actuality of bureaucracy as it governs the American taxpayer. Instead, what I get is a self-absorbed narrative full of so many tropes & predictable dialogue I think I'm reading from a second-rate suspense novelist. I had a very hard time believing the events unfolded as Yancey has related them. Too many passages had me asking "Did it REALLY happen that way?" Everything fit too cleanly, right down to the very end where he "gets the girl."
Yancey simply comes off as too full of himself. And not in the consciously self-denigrating way he intended to convey with the book--a man who didn't like who he became and was chronicling the descent. He doesn't seem to be aware the entire narrative is quasi-narcissistic. Which is what calls me to question just how accurate it is.
Yancey is a fiction writer, and I'm left to wonder just how much he embellished. I surmise it was quite a bit. Real life doesn't work the way he described it.
It's too bad. This could have been so much more interesting. But some people just can't get over themselves.
Book club assignment.
The first third of this "memoir" was actually engaging--a look into one of the most reviled professions and someone's reluctant but enlightening journey--even if it was peppered with rather derivative-sounding melodrama.
In the last two thirds of the book, however, the hackneyed melodrama wasn't just peppered, but poured in. There was genuine opportunity here to give a real person's perspective on the actuality of bureaucracy as it governs the American taxpayer. Instead, what I get is a self-absorbed narrative full of so many tropes & predictable dialogue I think I'm reading from a second-rate suspense novelist. I had a very hard time believing the events unfolded as Yancey has related them. Too many passages had me asking "Did it REALLY happen that way?" Everything fit too cleanly, right down to the very end where he "gets the girl."
Yancey simply comes off as too full of himself. And not in the consciously self-denigrating way he intended to convey with the book--a man who didn't like who he became and was chronicling the descent. He doesn't seem to be aware the entire narrative is quasi-narcissistic. Which is what calls me to question just how accurate it is.
Yancey is a fiction writer, and I'm left to wonder just how much he embellished. I surmise it was quite a bit. Real life doesn't work the way he described it.
It's too bad. This could have been so much more interesting. But some people just can't get over themselves.
July 21, 2019
I read this book because, as a Revenue Officer, I wanted to see how much things have changed (or not) since RA’98. I was surprised about how much things have stayed the same. Forms, deadlines, office politics, all the same... the main change is the push to protect taxpayer rights.
Yancey occasionally spews a few pages of personal insight as related to the job.
I’m not sure John Q Public would be interested in all the drivel, I found myself getting bored.
Yancey occasionally spews a few pages of personal insight as related to the job.
I’m not sure John Q Public would be interested in all the drivel, I found myself getting bored.
January 28, 2020
I found myself more interested in Yancey's experiences working for the IRS, and less about his personal life. A lot of his career felt like it was glossed over. There was a lot of the first year of training, and then the next 11 years there were just highlights provided. The idea was cool and there were some very interesting things to learn about the process, but it felt like there was some missing.
May 17, 2018
This book is flippin brilliant! the only books that have made me laugh out loud are monkey wrench gang and this book. i didnt give 5 stars because the ending kind of fell flat. all in all...the cat sequence...brilliant!
October 14, 2019
Interesting, but not as funny as I had hoped. A bit slow moving in parts. The author has a nice clear writing style. If they made this book into a movie, I imagine Jim from The Office would be good at playing Rick's role.
August 28, 2021
Story was easy to read. If your upset at the government right now, you may want to read this book another time. However, the book gives a personal insight into being a U.S. tax-collector.
May 24, 2022
I gave up on page 63, while the class was still in training. It is entirely possible that the story was going to get better. The writing was not.
October 5, 2022
Really interesting stuff. Reads like a thriller, and—though perhaps this is a result of today's cockamamie starve-the-beast climate—a call to action.
January 1, 2023
It was somewhat interesting at a point and then it got too long. I also thought it would give us more understanding of the inner working of the IRS but it’s just the collections department..
August 19, 2025
I love reading memoirs of people in odd careers. The office animosity was so outlandish!
Read
September 30, 2025entertaining and somewhat informative on the inner workings of the IRA. I think it's a bit dated.
November 9, 2015
"I have been spat on, kicked, punched, pushed down, my hair yanked, and had a gun pulled on me. I have been called Nazi, Gestapo, pig. I've had doors slammed in my face and once somebody tried to run me over with a car. I go home at night and my wife tells me I drink too much and don't get enough sleep. I haven't spoken to my parents in two years. My friends from college don't call me anymore. Three years ago, every strand of hair on my body, from the top of my head to those little hairs that grow on the top of my feet, fell out. Just fell out. I was bald all over. I looked like I was made of wax. So I bought a toupee and the first thing I noticed was how much nicer people were to me, since they assumed I was undergoing chemo. Then one day my hair just started growing back, and it came in black. Before it fell out it was brown. Now it's black - You are exceeding the speed limit, Allison. You get a ticket on this job and I'll write you up. I'll fire your ass. You are a federal officer. Henceforward you will be held to a higher standard. And, while you are under me, you will be held to the highest standard. Be proud of what you do. Be proud you're a revenue officer. Not some number-cruncher, not some fucking accountant or CPA who can't make it in private practice. You are a revenue officer. There are only ten thousand others like you in the whole country, and you are the best of the breed. The United States has the most efficient tax system in the world, because of one thing. Don't forget the fourth protocol - You're turning right in less than a hundred feet; signal your turn. Make known your intentions. Always make known your intentions. Hate surprises. Surprises will get you killed. The highest award a revenue officer can receive from the government is named after the only revenue officer who was killed in the line of duty. Ambushed by a protestor. A few years back they actually put it to a vote whether ROs should carry guns. The overwhelming majority voted it down. I don't think I need to tell you how I voted."
"No one likes to hear this, but your neighbor is not your friend. All I had to do was flash my commission and I got the life story, down to whom the wife was seeing on the side and what sort of parties they threw. Your neighbor is going to tell the IRS where you work, how long you've worked there, what kind of car you drive, what kind of jewelry you wear, what kind of valuable collections might be stored in your attic, what kind of people you associate with, and where your kids go to school. If you've moved from another city or state, they'll tell us where you're from, how long you've been at your present address, and if you have any plans for moving in the future. Drink a little too much? Seeing a psychologist? Faking a disability? We'll know. And most of the time, we won't even have to ask."
"I could not expect all protestor cases to be resolved easily. The vast majority of tax protestors are middle-to-lower class tradesmen with little or no college education. Many are retirees exercising their constitutional right to be royal pains in the ass. Only a few are hardcore, paramilitary, separatist types bent on the destruction of the government. Most protestors are merely gullible saps who have fallen on hard times and are conned by unscrupulous promoters into parting with money they don't have for a tax avoidance "product" that doesn't work. Consequently, when the case came to me, there were few assets to seize and what I could seize had minimal value. The goal, however, was never full payment of the tax. The goal was compliance. The goal was changing a protestor's heart and mind. Like the early missionaries plunging into the darkest corners of Africa, I was charged not so much with collection as with conversion. It was not enough for them to obey Big Brother. They must love him."
August 1, 2023
This book was mentioned on a Joe Rogan episode, and with the new IRS changes occurring, curiosity killed the cat (so to speak).
This book was very entertaining, and I appreciated Yancey’s perspective of events during his time at the IRS. I also couldn’t help but notice that while the book was set in the 90's, the office interactions (while dramatized) and social issues complained about are still highly relatable to today. Some things never change, I guess.
And while I’ve never worked for the IRS, I either saw myself, or someone I’ve worked with before, in the characters (especially during Yancey’s training period). In a way, Yancey’s mid/late twenties experiences of getting a “real job,” and trying to get his shit together related a lot to my own, which allowed me to better connect with the main and side characters.
I also appreciated that while many get on a power trip (it almost seemed inevitable to survive and thrive in that culture), Yancey does a good job at humanizing those who work for the most hated arm of the government. I left the book not hating or fearing the IRS, but instead, I saw the people working there just simply doing their jobs, and came to the realization that the culture of working for the government is not much different than the corporate/private sector world.
This book was very entertaining, and I appreciated Yancey’s perspective of events during his time at the IRS. I also couldn’t help but notice that while the book was set in the 90's, the office interactions (while dramatized) and social issues complained about are still highly relatable to today. Some things never change, I guess.
And while I’ve never worked for the IRS, I either saw myself, or someone I’ve worked with before, in the characters (especially during Yancey’s training period). In a way, Yancey’s mid/late twenties experiences of getting a “real job,” and trying to get his shit together related a lot to my own, which allowed me to better connect with the main and side characters.
I also appreciated that while many get on a power trip (it almost seemed inevitable to survive and thrive in that culture), Yancey does a good job at humanizing those who work for the most hated arm of the government. I left the book not hating or fearing the IRS, but instead, I saw the people working there just simply doing their jobs, and came to the realization that the culture of working for the government is not much different than the corporate/private sector world.
November 23, 2009
This book was interesting, but lacked some of the "gory" details of tax collecting. Or maybe the details are not actually very gory, so that is why he didn't tell them. One thing that was weird is the book jacket references some things that sound really interesting, like the author had to use a fake name while he was a tax collector and the name had to be approved by the governemnt...but he never actually talked about that in the book.
The end of the book, actually the very last sentence, made me say 'awww, sweet!' The rest of it just sounded miserable. Not miserable read, but miserable to read about. I don't think I would enjoy that sort of work environment or having such power over other people's lives (the ability and duty to take everything they own and make them homeless).
As for the IRS, last year I forgot to send my Schedule A. That is the document that tells the IRS what the deductions on your 1040 actually are. Without it they just assume you have put in some bogus amount and then adjust the calculations to show a standard deduction. Then they send you a letter and insist that you to send them money, PLUS interest. I sent them my Schedule A and a request for my tax refund, PLUS interest. I'm still waiting to get the interest.
The end of the book, actually the very last sentence, made me say 'awww, sweet!' The rest of it just sounded miserable. Not miserable read, but miserable to read about. I don't think I would enjoy that sort of work environment or having such power over other people's lives (the ability and duty to take everything they own and make them homeless).
As for the IRS, last year I forgot to send my Schedule A. That is the document that tells the IRS what the deductions on your 1040 actually are. Without it they just assume you have put in some bogus amount and then adjust the calculations to show a standard deduction. Then they send you a letter and insist that you to send them money, PLUS interest. I sent them my Schedule A and a request for my tax refund, PLUS interest. I'm still waiting to get the interest.
August 11, 2010
I don't know how much of it was exactly true (he's a novelist and playwright after all), but very readable account of his 12 years as a collections guy (revenue officer) for the IRS. Works well on a couple levels --
(a) insider stuff about how tax collections, seizures, etc. work, how much leeway they have to decide whether or not to be lenient or patient with a particular taxpayer, and so on;
(b) author's own personal transformations while on the job -- he's a rail-thin cigarette smoker who becomes preoccupied with body building; his 4-year-long engagement ends, and he later marries his boss from the IRS; he starts out just wanting to get paid at a steady job after bouncing around quite a bit but ends up becoming fanatical about taking down tax protesters, closing a high number of cases, etc.
(c) sketches of the other characters in the office -- the angling for promotions, ganging up to get rid of a disliked boss, office flirtations, and so on. I could see how he'd be a good playwright -- his colleagues come to life as interesting, sometimes sad, sometimes funny people, much more so than in most TV sit coms about stereotypical gangs of wacky co-workers.
(a) insider stuff about how tax collections, seizures, etc. work, how much leeway they have to decide whether or not to be lenient or patient with a particular taxpayer, and so on;
(b) author's own personal transformations while on the job -- he's a rail-thin cigarette smoker who becomes preoccupied with body building; his 4-year-long engagement ends, and he later marries his boss from the IRS; he starts out just wanting to get paid at a steady job after bouncing around quite a bit but ends up becoming fanatical about taking down tax protesters, closing a high number of cases, etc.
(c) sketches of the other characters in the office -- the angling for promotions, ganging up to get rid of a disliked boss, office flirtations, and so on. I could see how he'd be a good playwright -- his colleagues come to life as interesting, sometimes sad, sometimes funny people, much more so than in most TV sit coms about stereotypical gangs of wacky co-workers.
November 20, 2009
This book is about how a job can destroy a man's soul. As one who is yet to start his professional career, I was curious to find out the harsh realities of the 9 to 5 lifestyle. The book on occasion is very witty and humorous but fails to grab the reader's attention, primarily because of the author's tendency to digress along various irrelevant tangents. I also found myself unable to empathize with any of the characters which made this book less enjoyable than it could have been. The second half of the book when the author begins his downward spiral drags on with very little progress in the story and then it comes to an abrupt end. By the time I reached the end, I couldn't help but feel that the author is just blaming his job for his deteriorating mental condition rather than the environment he created for himself.
June 26, 2016
Feed the beast, feed the beast.
I can see hints of The Monstrumologist in these pages, as if the IRS had trained Yancey, given him the experience to be able to write such a novel as The Monstrumologist. After all, The Monstrumologist is, ultimately, about the monstrosity that is humanity. And the Confessions of a Tax Collector is straightforwardly about the monster that is humanity.
The writing is so Yancey-esque, one can see the moral door that characters have to go through. If the IRS created the writer that is Yancey today, I would have to applaud it. Though, I suppose the reality is that he existed as a writer and the IRS gave him the setting and the characters for him to sculpt.
I can see hints of The Monstrumologist in these pages, as if the IRS had trained Yancey, given him the experience to be able to write such a novel as The Monstrumologist. After all, The Monstrumologist is, ultimately, about the monstrosity that is humanity. And the Confessions of a Tax Collector is straightforwardly about the monster that is humanity.
The writing is so Yancey-esque, one can see the moral door that characters have to go through. If the IRS created the writer that is Yancey today, I would have to applaud it. Though, I suppose the reality is that he existed as a writer and the IRS gave him the setting and the characters for him to sculpt.
February 21, 2010
In "Confessions of a Tax Collector," Richard Yancey tells the story of his time working for the IRS. At the time, Yancey was an aimless twenty-something with no career path and a live-in fiancee he had no plans to marry who viewed tax collection as his last shot at success. As a tax collector, Yancey sees some of the worst American society can offer--and finds a new side of himself, a person who is more focused, but also less connected to humanity.
The story is fascinating, and told with flair. And in the end, Yancey leaves tax collection behind to write his memoir, and American ending if ever there was one.
The story is fascinating, and told with flair. And in the end, Yancey leaves tax collection behind to write his memoir, and American ending if ever there was one.
April 14, 2016
This book is an autobiography about Rick Yancey's adventure in the IRS. During his stay in the IRS, his life goes downhill all because of his job. I found this book interesting because I had always wondered what was going on in the IRS. However, one thing about this book I disliked was when Rick started going mad because of his job. I thought it was a little boring. I started liking Rick at the end of the book because he started to have initiative. But I disliked how Rick just threw away his life because of his job. It was as if he didn't care. I would only recommend this book for people who are not too susceptible and can endure a few boring pages.
February 15, 2008
A produced playwright, former theater critic, and published novelist, Yancey worked for the Internal Revenue Service for 12 years, beginning in 1990. His account of life in the IRS--with the names, personal appearances, and histories of the real individuals changed to protect their identities--reads like a novel, and provides a firsthand view of the institution, its policies and practices, its particular workplace culture, what it's like to learn the ropes as a trainee, and life as a full-fledged revenue officer.
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August 1, 2008Yancey spent a couple of years as a collection agent for the IRS, mainly going after owners of small businesses that messed up payroll and other taxes beyond redemption. While it is true that many of the harsh collection methods described in the book were prohibited by Congress after Yancey left the IRS, this account gives proof why we ought to be afraid, very afraid, of unchecked government power directed at individual citizens.
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