Irs Facts

The IRS employees tax manual has instructions for collecting taxes after a nuclear war.

The IRS processes more than 2 billion pieces of paper each year.

The IRS officially requires criminals to report income from illegal activities like drug dealing, theft, and bribes on their tax returns. While the Fifth Amendment protects them from having to reveal the source of the income, failing to report it is still tax evasion—which is exactly how they got Al Capone.

Willie Nelson helped start Farm Aid in 1985 to raise money for family farmers. In 1991 the government put his own 44-acre Texas ranch up for auction over back taxes. More than 40 farmers, some from South Dakota, came to the courthouse and asked bidders to stay away. A lawyer for a farm group bought the ranch and held it until Willie got it back. At 93, he played Farm Aid again in September.