The IRS Made A Disaster $60,000 Star Trek Training Video
The IRS isn’t an organization that anyone would call “well respected for what they do with money,” so it’s no surprise that they went ahead and apologized for something that they’ve done with money. Specifically, for dumping on both taxpayers and Star Trek, all in the same squat.
In 2010, the IRS produced a training video that parodied Star Trek in order to bore the ever-living shit out of people. It isn’t even a parody, really, as the only thing bordering on trivialization is mimicking Spock’s character while using costumes that more closely resemble those worn in The Next Generation. Way to stick it to them!
In any case, the costume-filled Star Trek video also showcases an elaborate control room set full of lit-up displays and special chairs that cost around $60,000 in taxpayer money to produce.
This isn’t even to mention having such a large cast to begin with. You could mash all of these people together and still only get the acting skills of two high school students. And one of them is the Star Trek captain, who is kind of interesting, in the way that anything in an IRS training video can qualify as interesting.
Watch the IRS Star Trek video below and remember that Stardate April 15th is just around the corner. Thankfully someone saved this total mess.
The IRS admitted that the entire Star Trek parody project, which also included a Gilligan’s Island parody, was a mistake. You don’t say? But this was only after the video took off across the Internet when CBS News obtained the video under the Freedom of Information Act.
The whole “point” of the IRS Star Trek video was to teach agents how to spot tax evaders. This is kind of ironic (or a lot ironic) because it also just completely wasted tax payer money in the process.
The IRS, to their credit (not really) did issue a statement about the Star Trek video. They said, “The IRS recognizes and takes seriously our obligation to be good stewards of government resources and taxpayer dollars. There is no mistaking that this video did not reflect the best stewardship of resources…A video of this type would not be made today.”
This was years ago, but do we believe the IRS has learned a wealth of knowledge about moderation and sensible spending in that time? Not likely. But at least this IRS Star Trek video exists to call them on when the audit eventually comes.
