To Whom It May Concern:

I hope that this opportunity to express my family's situation will be
noticed by someone as "real people" whose lives have been ruined. Not
just another statistic in the "glad it's not me" category.

Years ago (1987) my wife and I began investing in a cattle partnership
as a means to grow resources for funding our daughters' college tuition.
What we did not know is that the man running the partnerships ( Walter
Hoyt, now in prison serving 20 yrs ) was a crook. He took all of the
investors' money and, through fraudulent manipulation of the cattle
counts was able to continue operation for many years ( convicted 1998 ).
Even though the IRS had had him under investigation since 1983, it took
the Postal service to finally bring him to justice for fraud.

Now my family and hundreds of others have lost our life savings, and to
add insult to injury, are being pursued by the IRS for taxes on not only
our modified returns, but also on the "profit" that Mr. Hoyt ( the fraud
) said was made by the partnerships. They also want to add exorbitant
interest and penalties to the already unpayable amounts. When urged by
the tax court judges to negotiate a reasonable settlement with those who
are obviously VICTIMS, the IRS has chosen instead to relentlessly pursue
the "little guys" who don't have the resources to fight back.

I know that the IRS agents who have been involved are no doubt
frustrated that they were unable to stop Hoyt themselves, but they seem
to have lost sight of the fact that WE THE PEOPLE that he bilked out of
life savings have already suffered immeasurably. My ability to help my
daughters with school is long gone. If the "kinder, gentler" IRS is
unwilling to negotiate a reasonable settlement with the Hoyt victims my
wife and I who's only bad act was to trust a crook, will live under this
oppressive cloud the rest of our lives. All we have ever done is get up
and go to work every day and try to provide for our family. None of that
seems to matter though. Some how we are seen as the criminals, for
investing in a business that is perfectly legal, if it doesn't have the
assets stolen by the man running it. Everyone, including myself, feels
for the people of Enron who were bilked by crooks at the top. But they
aren't being asked to pay taxes on the fictitious profits that floated
the company until it collapsed. Why are Hoyt victims being singled out
for special treatment???

Some years ago President Clinton created the TAO, presumably to advocate
for victims such as the Hoyt investors. We were all elated at the
thought that we might get a "fair" hearing, only to find out that the
TAO had no powers to solve anything. It appears to have been an
"eyewash" situation. The IRS still refuses to negotiate meaningfully.
Why should they? They have all the time and money in the world. They
don't have any motivation to be fair and reasonable. It's not their
lives that have been destroyed by a crook. They are just piling on.

I hope and pray someone has made it this far in my letter. We hear every
day of how the IRS can accept a reduced liability from a victim of
special circumstance. Why not us???

Sincerely,

Michael R. Selzer, Hoyt victim

\-\-\-\--Original Message\-\-\-\--

From: Mike Selzer
\[[[mailto:mikes59@comcast.net]{.underline}](mailto:mikes59@comcast.net)\]

Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2005 7:17 PM

To: comments@taxreformpanel.gov

Cc: Terri Merriam

Subject: Tax Relief for Hoyt Victims

Hello, my family has been victimized by a crook and need the help of

the Tax Reform Panel to keep the IRS from making it worse. PLEASE,
PLEASE see attached.