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Just So You’re Aware: Cuba Is Developing a Children’s Video Game to Promote Taxes

We assume El Presidente is cognizant of the situation but we honestly don’t know what to make of Cuba allowing any semblance of private enterprise other than we hope this means the country will get back to something that closely resembles the Havana casinos in Godfather II.


“Tributin” or “Little Tax” is expected to be available this fall and sounds like it will be quite a gas:

“It is a fun software to help children learn about fiscal policy, because since they were born in a socialist society with some gratuities, they don’t have all the elements needed to understand taxes,” project director Dagoberto Marino told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“Tributin” would show children how the money they spend when they buy candy puts in motion mechanisms that benefit their communities in the form of school improvements.

Cuba plans children’s video game to promote taxes [Reuters via Tax Docket]

Just So You’re Aware: Your Experience with IRS Can Now Be Rated on a Scale of One to Five Dog Bones

The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight — everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.

Consumers with a bone to pick with the Internal Revenue Service have the opportunity to share their experiences. Originally designed as an IRS profile database, IRSDoghouse.com has evolved into a free and anonymous Web site where anyone can rate – negatively or positively – their personal and professional experiences with IRS employees.

The IRS certainly holds the tax-paying public to task and now is the time for practitioners and other tax-paying individuals to reward or bite back, according to the site’s creators. Ratings are based on dog bones, with a single dog bone rating as the least favorable; five dog bones is the best rating.


People share personal experiences and can post information about the IRS employee, including whether the employee was helpful, clueless, difficult to work with, or knowledgeable. Reviews allow for character descriptions and other details. In the characteristic section, one reviewer explained that this IRS employee has been a government employee too long. She was clueless, difficult to work with, and would be fired if she worked in the private sector. The IRS employee received one dog bone.

On the other hand, a positive review of five bones reported that the IRS employee was able to negotiate, was fair, helpful, intelligent, and interacted with him in a kind, courteous, and professional manner. This IRS employee demonstrated positive communication skills and a pleasant attitude. He was a pleasure to work with and gave the benefit of the doubt to the practitioner/taxpayer. He also allowed ample time to comply with requests. “This is one of the good guys in the IRS,” the rater said.

The Web site provides people with IRS complaints a safe and anonymous place to vent or to share feel-good stories. And, if people don’t wish to post any comments at all, they can still read about practitioners’ and other tax payer experiences to know what they might be up against.

The site is free to use and is monitored for extreme profanity, hateful comments, and threats, which are removed. The administrator of this site has the authority to remove any posting that is not deemed appropriate.