How about IRS agents get a certificate of competency issued by a private sector testing agency?
That would be a hoot. I have had to deal with them too often for my liking and you get different answer depending on who you talk to.
“How about IRS agents get a certificate of competency issued by a private sector testing agency?”
I ran into this question recently in a tax appeal hearing. The government appraiser of a parcel of real estate was not required to be a licensed appraiser. The judge asked me to accept her as an expert witness and he hit the ceiling when I refused.
She appraised a property at more than double the price the property had been listed for sale to the public in a regional multi-list. She appraised the property at over $1.3 million when the property was open market listed at $600K on the effective date of the appraisal and did not sell. The for sale sign was evident in the front yard of the picture of the property she included in her appraisal submitted to the court. When I questioned her, she stated to the court that it was not relevant!
She never reconciled the comparative sale properties to the subject property in her appraisal.
She skipped the properties sold in the same development to utilize properties sold far away in a different part of the county as comparables.
She performed a retrospective appraisal and had no idea what a retrospective appraisal was. Followed none of the standards in performing one.
All this and the bureaucratic judge ruled against my appraisal by an independent certified appraiser. An appeal of his decision costs over $20K. The system is the punishment!
We need the same enforcement rules and standards to apply to the government employees!