Rosa & Bob:
It seems the two of you are hedging too close to the truth that I have no wiggle-room left!
Don't you think, even I, need enough wiggle-room esentially in the form of mercy so that I could understand that the law should be written in such a manner that your rights end where mine begins and may never end? Even though I may own horses and understand, in practice, that "good fences make good neighbors, don't I have the right for my neighbor to forgive me 490, at the least, times for the sins of my horses. I would hope neither of you come back with any advice for me to train my horses to always stay back away from the fence to avoid the appearance of breaking the fence down!
I'm reminded of the young IRS agent who examined a state controlled bootlegger subject to a legislative enacted Black Market tax. We generally found those taxpayers possibly more honest with their taxes that we found with some "men of the cloth" that failed to comprehend that "love offerings" they received were taxable income and also subject to employment taxes if they didn't opt out. I was told by an unimpeachable source that the bootlegger planted a couple of bottles of the alleged best spirits in the house in the back seat of the agent. Later in the audit, the agent inquired about more. In the final analysis, it was reported that the bootlegger reported the incident to the IRS Inspection Service with the employee voluntarily separating. The agent stood idly by and accepted the bribe and didn't even have to ask for a repeat performance to be subject to such a psychological state as to be able to withstand a polygraph exam. It wasn't necessarily a sin; however, we were warned against even allowing the taxpayer under audit or their representatives to pay for our lunch. I was forced to allow it without making a scene; however, I recriprocated or avoided the occasion subsequently.