To the Editor:

Why has no one mentioned one crucial fact in the delinquent taxes letters controversy?

The IRS accepts a postmark dated prior to or on the due date of tax payments, yet a clerk in the Tax Collector’s Office told me that it is the date of receipt of the payment that counts, not the postmark. She added that I should mail my payment at least five days early to ensure its timely receipt because that is the way the computer is programmed.

Can it possibly be so difficult to change that computer program? Does no one realize that mail is a little slower at tax time, especially for April payments? Why is the postmark date good enough for the tyrants of the IRS but not good enough for the Warwick Tax Collector’s Office?

I guess I will be getting another delinquent letter for my April payment because that was postmarked on April 14, 2014.

Elaine Gambardella

Warwick