IRS Riding the Rails

IRS Riding the Rails

Braille MonitorMay-June 1986
(back)(contents)(next)
IRS Riding the Rails
Tax Specialists on a Roll Answering
Commuter Questions
by Jim Quinlan

(The following article appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times March 4, 1986. Dale
Wolthoff is a longtime, active
Federationist.)
Minutes after Metra's 508 Glenview
Express pulled out of Union Station
yesterday, a pleasant-looking man holding
a white cane stood up and faced the
crowded car of commuters.
"Hi, I'm Dale Wolthoff, and I'm from
the Internal Revenue Service in Chicago,"
he said.
Commuters' faces, a day into the new
week, looked up from their popcorn boxes
and newspapers and stared at Wolthoff.
A woman nudged the man next to her.
"He's from the IRS?" she asked. The man
squinted. He smiled and said, "I knew
it would come to this. Now they're
following us."
Wolthoff smiled.
"I'm here to answer any questions you
might have about your income taxes," he
said.
A sigh was heard.
Ruth Flower of Northbrook wasn't shy.
She said she had a question.
Wolthoff, who is blind, responded to
Flower's voice. She told him about her
Keough retirement plan and asked something
about converting it.
Wolthoff didn't hesitate. In a soft,
commanding tone he outlined the federal
laws. Roll over this, 10-year-averaging
that, no penalty. Flower smiled as
Wolthoff finished his pitch.
"That was nice," she said as the IRS
Taxpayers Service specialist walked off
down the aisle. "I wanted to know. I
could have asked my auditor, but, well,
he was handy."
Julie Salinger of Deerfield, newly
married and a study in organization,
told Wolthoff how she and her new husband,
a dentist, interviewed three accountants
before choosing him for the
first time last night.
Wolthoff was impressed.
Her question revealed her careful
nature. Her husband was a volunteer
dentist in Israel. Could he deduct his
air fair?
Maybe, said the IRS man. Was it a
local volunteer organization or was it
foreign? Julie didn't know for sure.
"Then you've got a great question for
your new accountant tonight," Wolthoff
said.
Clouds of smoke rose in the smoking
ear as the IRS man opened the door. He
walked through. Announced his mission.
No questions there.
The next car was part bar car. Happy
people there.
Sophie Drewniak of Fox Lake, a young
grandmother, stood between the two cars
with her 6-week-old grandson, Matthew,
in her arms. She had a question about
her husband's trucking business.
Wolthoff readily answered, and off he
went to the next car.

"I have a lot more questions," she
said. "But what I'd really like to do
is sit him down and have him do my
taxes."
Wolthoff and fellow tax experts will
be riding the trains for the next two
weeks. It's something he loves doing,
he said.
"I believe in the concept of outreach
when and where we can," he said. "I
think this is an opportunity for me and
a service to help people where they
are."
(back)(contents)(next)