Where to get IRS forms?
To the Santa Clara County Library District:
I would like to start by introducing myself. I am Karen Anderson, former mayor of Saratoga and currently living in Morgan Hill, both of which are in the county library system. My husband, Einar Anderson, was on the Morgan Hill Library Commission during the time the new library was conceived. We are involved in our community in a number of ways.
Slacker that I am, I put off doing my taxes until this week and, Luddite that I am, I do them on paper. I was amazed and distraught to see this year, with no notice to anyone, the IRS decided not to make the 1040 and 1040A booklets available to libraries. Then, the libraries did not make any effort to warn the public through local newspapers or the Board of Supervisors’ newsletters. I am, by far, not the only person who does taxes on paper. One frantic man went to Zoe Lofgren’s office and demanded that they download the booklet right there and then. In the United States, 16 percent of Americans have no computer or computer skills (mostly elderly, I imagine). A library is no place to be doing taxes if you have skills but no machine. I am outraged at the IRS but that gets me nowhere.
I finally went to the IRS office, 55 S. Market, San Jose yesterday and, despite Lofgren’s office telling me that they had no booklets, they did have a lot. So, I am happier now. I brought out over a dozen for the Morgan Hill Library.
However, you should also know that the IRS takes two weeks to deliver these booklets by mail, which is too tight for anyone to get their taxes in on time. I think the County Library should step up to this challenge. Right now, each library has reacted on its own. This is a system, after all, so it should behave like one. I have spoken to only two libraries besides my own.
Gilroy found a way to get copies but left them out and they are all gone. My own did nothing. I was in touch also with Supervisor Mike Wasserman’s office but the staff I spoke with had no interest in the subject. I thought his newsletter was a great format for getting the word out except for the fact that you have to be computer literate to get it.
It would be a real service to the community to get the information out that your system has copies. Needless to say, someone will have to make a point of getting these booklets from the IRS in downtown San Jose. I would recommend the lending system with a due date of a week. This should be implemented immediately. It only takes political will. Â
Karen Anderson
Morgan Hill
More kids’ news, please
I am a scout from Pack 706, and I read the papers every Saturday. I hope you will put a kids’ section talking about school and what is happening to kids today, because I am an 11-year-old and I am getting bored of reading adult stuff. Please reply, from pack 706.
Mosiah Savlala
Morgan Hill
