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COOKING ON GAS

May 23, 2008

Dodgy tax preparers like to take big credits for off-road fuel use. They identify themselves to the IRS by getting a tad aggressive.

A federal court last week barred Grace Macholko, proprietress of "Fast Income Tax Services" of Dallas, from preparing tax returns, largely because she gave her clients large fuel credits they hadn't earned:

In one example alleged in the government complaint, Machoko claimed that a customer, reportedly a cook, purchased 53,000 gallons of gasoline for off-highway business use in 2005. The customer, whose total reported income for the year was $1,571, would have had to spend approximately $116,000 (assuming $2.20 per gallon) to purchase that volume of gasoline.

With her profound understanding of economics and tax law, Ms. Machoko's talents are wasted as a preparer. She should be a senator.

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