We’re here to help
For all you good folk out there who have battled are battling IRD heres a must see movie.
In February 1994, Christchurch businessman Dave Henderson walked into the Inland Revenue Department. Dave was not a happy man.
His girlfriend had recently been there to collect a refund Dave’s company was owed.
An IRD staff member made some suggestive comments to her.Dave told the IRD officer that if he ever talked to one of his employees like that again he would kick his “fat arse from one end of Cashel Street to the other”.
And so began a saga of Kafkaesque and yet comedic proportions.
But Dave refused to give in. He kept fighting
He also kept both his sense of humour and his records – of every surreal phone conversation;of every demand; of every piece of paper.
He kept fighting until his battle reached the very highest levels of Government.
And finally, four years after the comedy of errors began, Dave Henderson won.
Dave got his life and his business back together. And in a final ironic two-fingered salute, he bought he building which houses the South Island head office of the IRD.And renamed it Henderson House.
We’re Here to Help is a Kafkaesque comedy based on the true story of one man’s
David-and-Goliath battle with the biggest bureaucracy of all — the tax department.
Labour MP’s were racing to the premier of this NZ made film. If it is an international success will Helen give it the Red Carpet treatment through the streets of Wellington?
Comment by Bevan Berg — Wed 7th November 2007 @ 8:32 am
Link to stuff coverage.
Comment by Bevan Berg — Wed 7th November 2007 @ 8:35 am
In my letter to Peter Dunne today I will make a mention of our very own Paul Catton!
Comment by Benjamin Easton — Wed 7th November 2007 @ 11:05 am
Methinks everyone should give a big thank-you to Rodney H. – his book “The Power to Destroy” documents many, many cases that quite literally make David’s look like a Summer’s Day Picnic.
Without Rodney’s efforts, the widow who had buried her only son (13 years old) after he took his life a short while after his father was murdered by the IRD, would not have told their story.
And the Nazi concentration camp survivor who commented that Hitler’s minions were easier to deal with….
The list goes on…
Certainly David’s tale is one the IRD should not be proud of, but he is only the tip of a GIGANTIC iceberg.
Comment by Ethos — Wed 7th November 2007 @ 4:23 pm
I have compared the IRD to the IRA which is a bit unfair of me,considering the IRA fought for disadvantaged people’s rights,when the IRD’s only aim is to destroy people’s lives.
Comment by rosie — Wed 7th November 2007 @ 7:31 pm
I am going to go see it, it looks like it might be a good laugh at IRD’s expence. And I wish one could be produced on the family court!
Comment by wendy — Mon 12th November 2007 @ 10:27 am
It shows the IRD up for what they are. Petty,ruthless and a complete pack of idiots who have no idea of what they are doing.
Comment by rosie — Mon 12th November 2007 @ 2:01 pm
Here is an example of the IRD’s lack of humanity.
A friend of mine had a brother who was intellectually handicapped.He could have been cared for in one of those homes where everything was done for him.But his brothers bought a house for him and he looked after himself.To earn a little bit of extra money and make him feel good about himself,he advertised in a local paper for gardening jobs.He only charged $8 an hour.The IRD saw his ad and he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore, which was sad cos I used to see him walking along the road with his spade over his shoulder going to work.The IRD could have learnt quite alot from this special man.Compassion,humanity and courage for starters.
Comment by rosie — Thu 15th November 2007 @ 6:22 pm