Tax workers of any stripe – federal or state – get hated on. Given. Buzzwords of disdain like “faceless bureaucrats,” “lazy government employees,” “good-for-nothing-except-for-sucking-up-government-resources freedom haters” and so on and so forth get thrown around with reckless abandon.
However, if you knew that your state department of revenue public servants looked like Natalie Brown (right) and just so happened to be responsible for saving a taxpayer’s life, then maybe Tea Partiers and their derivatives would exercise a little more restraint.
Unless of course they’re also against hotties and random acts of kindness.
When [Earl] Phillips called the state Department of Revenue last month to get answers about his state income tax bill, the faceless Frankfort bureaucrat who called him back saved his life.
Now Phillips thinks Department of Revenue employee Natalie Brown — who dialed 911 when Phillips had a heart attack during that May 26th phone call — should receive more than a simple thank you.
[…]
Phillips, an Adair County construction worker, received a tax notice in late May with Brown’s name and phone numberWhen Brown returned the call he’d placed, she noticed that Phillips, 60, seemed out of sorts.
“I noticed he was breathing really heavily,” Brown said Friday. “I could tell something was wrong.”
At this point, you might expect to read that the government employee placed the phone down to ask their supervisor to get permission to call the on-site nurse (in accordance with the proper protocols). At which point, another co-worker would pop in, suggest they take a break for coffee and a bun and dying taxpayer would be left on the hook.
But nothing of the sort happened! Natalie Brown was on this, knowing that any delay could mean life or death and certainly less future revenue for the state of Kentucky.
Brown verified she had the correct address for Phillips — which was on his tax forms — and called Adair County 911.
Shortly after that, emergency crews arrived and took Phillips, who was home alone, to a local hospital. He was later transferred to a Louisville hospital, where doctors put a stent, or tube, in his heart. He had a 90 percent blockage in one of his arteries, Phillips said.
Hot, lifesaving, tax worker This has reality TV written all over it.
Tax worker helps save taxpayer’s life [Kentucky Herald-Leader via TaxProf]
