IRS Apologizes for $60,000 Star Trek Parody

(YouTube link)

The Internal Revenue Service got chewed out by Congress for wasting taxpayer money on a couple of videos made for a training and leadership conference in 2010. One was a parody of Gilligan's Island, but most of the $60,000 spent was for a Star Trek parody that "does not appear to have any training value."

The production value is high even though the acting is what one might expect from a bunch of tax collectors. In the video, the spaceship is approaching the planet “Notax,” where alien identity theft appears to be a problem.

“The IRS recognizes and takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of government resources and taxpayer dollars,” the agency said in a statement. “There is no mistaking that this video did not reflect the best stewardship of resources.”

Congressional investigators concluded that the Gilligan's Island parody video was a legitimate training tool. Although the $60,000 spent on the two videos is a pittance compared to, say, a day at war, we've posted much better parodies made for $500 or less. The IRS should consider looking to the YouTube community to produce future videos. Link  -via Viral Viral Videos