The IRS Spent $60K in Taxpayer Money on Star Trek and Gilligan’s Island Parody Videos

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been rebuked by Congress for creating two training videos in 2010 — one parodying Star Trek, the other based on Gilligan’s Island — that cost over $60,000 in taxpayer money. The Star Trek parody was released to the public on Friday upon request of the US House Ways and Means Committee, but the Gilligan’s Island parody was determined to be a legitimate training video and was not released. The IRS defended the video, saying it “was a well-intentioned, light-hearted introduction to an important conference during a difficult period for the IRS” but added “a video of this type would not be made today.” In a statement, the agency 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.