It’s not a dumb question. The TaxProf Blog quotes a piece in Tax Analysts that states that the IRS is aware of tax blogs.
“The tax press has played an increasingly important role in the IRS’s communications strategy as the number and form of media outlets have proliferated over the last 25 to 35 years, IRS Chief Counsel Donald Korb said at a January 18 session of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation midyear meeting in Lake Las Vegas, Nev….
“Tax bloggers have gone a step beyond what traditional media can do and have ‘democratized’ the way tax news and other information reach people who may not have had access to such information before the Internet age, Korb said. People no longer have to have subscriptions to tax law publications or be in Washington to get that information, he said. Tax blogs such as TaxProf Blog, which is run by Paul Caron, a University of Cincinnati College of Law professor, ‘are a great tool to get information out to a particular group,’ he said.”
The TaxProf Blog is, as Joe Kristan noted, “[the] king of our little tax blogging world.” I do know that I have readers at California’s Board of Equalization because they’ve emailed me about some stories I’ve written in the past. I believe (based on visitor logs) that some individuals at the Franchise Tax Board and the IRS have stopped in and perused Taxable Talk.
The media has definitely changed from even ten years ago. Today there are tax blogs, and tax issues are followed more by the general public. I think that’s for the better as problems are discovered far quicker and the public is much better educated about the consequence of tax law.
Hat Tips: TaxProf Blog, Roth Tax Updates