By LEONARD GREENE

Last updated: 9:06 am
March 10, 2009
Posted: 2:14 am
March 10, 2009

A Texas retiree has become a cause celebre for a satirical letter he wrote his hometown paper, saying he can't pay his taxes - and asking the IRS to treat him like famous tax cheats.

"Dear IRS," Ed Barnett wrote the Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News in February. "I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost."

Barnett, 67, listed 37 other taxes he's paid, including an obscure waterfowl stamp tax. And he asked the feds to forgive him, as they did such famous tax evaders as US Reps. Charles Rangel and Barney Frank, Sen. Chris Dodd, ex-Sen. Tom Daschle and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

Actual 'Letter to the Editor' of Wichita Falls, Texas Times Record News:

Dear IRS, I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost. I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing licence tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle licence registration tax, capital gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can't recall but I have run out of space and money. When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest. P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.