What are you Overlooking?

“John Cilagi eliminated seven million people in the U. S. in one fell swoop. It took him four years to convince his superiors at the IRS but in the end he convinced them that all of the dependents that were listed on people’s tax returns with names like Fido, Poopy, Duchess, etc. weren’t really their children. He got them to require a social security number next to the name and suddenly 7 million people disappeared as dependents.” Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, used this as an example at a talk I attended last week.

“The U. S. government saved $3 billion in tax revenue in four years as a result of this one obvious item. Yet Cilagi only got a $25,000 bonus for suggesting it and fighting to get it put onto tax returns.”

Are you overlooking any obvious flaws in your hometown? What are you doing to correct them?