That is a fair and cogent criticism. I agree with you that the majority of the players aren't smart, but I think what happens is they see what works for other agencies and emulate that model. Maybe we can say they deliberately spread moisture and sprinkle mold spores to encourage the mold to grow?
I think you will find this interesting. Tax appeals used to be overseen by the Board of Equalization, who are elected to office. Because the BOE staff is elected and want to get re-elected, they frequently sided with the taxpayers. In 2017, Governor Brown and State Controller Betty Yee took the tax appeals away from the BOE and created a whole new agency to handle appeals called the Office of Tax Appeals. The new OTA almost always sides with the FTB. Instead of moving the free student attorney program from the BOE to the OTA, they moved the free attorney program to the FTB. Yes, the free attorneys who fight for you in the OTA court against FTB are employed by FTB. I wrote a post about it back when it happened: https://gwsandiego.net/blog/?p=6
Yes, practical solutions are limited by design. And justice is not included in their plans. Even so, thinking they have a secret playbook is a mistake: they just get away with whatever they can, whenever they can... protecting their own, like thieves.
That is a fair and cogent criticism. I agree with you that the majority of the players aren't smart, but I think what happens is they see what works for other agencies and emulate that model. Maybe we can say they deliberately spread moisture and sprinkle mold spores to encourage the mold to grow?
I think you will find this interesting. Tax appeals used to be overseen by the Board of Equalization, who are elected to office. Because the BOE staff is elected and want to get re-elected, they frequently sided with the taxpayers. In 2017, Governor Brown and State Controller Betty Yee took the tax appeals away from the BOE and created a whole new agency to handle appeals called the Office of Tax Appeals. The new OTA almost always sides with the FTB. Instead of moving the free student attorney program from the BOE to the OTA, they moved the free attorney program to the FTB. Yes, the free attorneys who fight for you in the OTA court against FTB are employed by FTB. I wrote a post about it back when it happened: https://gwsandiego.net/blog/?p=6
Yes, practical solutions are limited by design. And justice is not included in their plans. Even so, thinking they have a secret playbook is a mistake: they just get away with whatever they can, whenever they can... protecting their own, like thieves.