Do you want to see the “Star Trek” training video the IRS shot? You might as well — you paid for it.
CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson has distinguished herself as a journalist with her reporting on Benghazigate and Fast and Furious, but it doesn’t take an investigative reporter to know how well $60,000 worth of amateur video will fly while White House tours are being cut because of sequestration.
CBS: IRS spends $60k tax dollars making a Star Trek parody "training" video at the IRS television studios using IRS employees as actors…
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) March 22, 2013
@SharylAttkisson That sequestration really hurts, huh?
— Chris Treloar (@Callipygiad) March 22, 2013
@SharylAttkisson For 60k they could get REAL actors. Oodles of them. And real writers. Can you imagine what the script reads like?
— RightWorld (@foxxumekk) March 22, 2013
There was also a Gilligan's Island parody IRS training video.
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) March 22, 2013
The IRS says the videos can save tax $ by replacing in-person training. (But IRS did say it's put new systems in place to avoid a repeat.)
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) March 22, 2013
The IRS videos aren't likely to sit well w/some Americans & members of Congress as fed agencies complain about sequestration cuts.
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) March 22, 2013
https://twitter.com/allenwentz/status/315250964951093249
Post your reviews below. Even the IRS seems reluctant to give two thumbs up to this effort, going by the statement the department issued:
The space parody video from 2010 is not reflective of overall IRS video efforts, which provide critical information to taxpayers and cost-effective employee training critical to running the nation’s tax system. In addition, the IRS has instituted tough new standards for videos to prevent situations similar to the 2010 video.
