Intimidating Revenue Services

They say there are only two certainties in the universe: death and taxes. There are various beliefs and personifications of death, enough to fill tomes. However, taxes are generally seen in a limited set of ways and there is one service in narratives that encapsulates the most prominent: Intimidatng Revenue Services.

It's little surprise that taxes are perceived as evil or impenetrable. Various names, ranging from gangsters to evangelists, have faced the law and lost thanks to evasive maneuvers during tax time. There are various reasons this happens and the two individuals represented aren't the only ones by far, as different as they are (not to mention the evangelist isn't necessarily representative of his group on this point; Al Capone is a different story).

So how should one represent a group such as the IRS in a story? First off, revenue services tend to be perceived (and thus shown) as highly and nigh-obfuscatingly bureaucratic in nature if they are a major force. Think Hermes Conrad from Futurama if you need a foundation. This lends itself to drama and comedy, as characters may inevitably face the turmoils within. It's effectively a foreign language to the public so it can be used effectively to accentuate the complications therein.

Characters in this setting needn't be emotionless and can may play the Spock role quite easily. This kind of character may be a villain, perhaps even a jerkass such as Walter Peck, though do be careful with this kind of villain. "Did not do the research" is a fairly easy trap to fall into with a topic as taxes and you don't want the audience to rooting for him if you screw up the characterization.

Making him on the side of good can provide comedic gold if you can handle him well. He may be the genius, even an insufferable one, prone to highfalutin speech and perpetually flabbergasted by rest of the cast's ability to keep on living. He may be unable to withstand the tribulations of socializing though too stoic to complain about it.

On a sidenote, the trope page does reveal a huge point: Fridge Logic. Be careful how you develop the setting, especially if you intend on introducing a taxman as an obstacle (if not an outright villain). Superheroes and supervillains, for example are notorious for standing up to adversity that would kill the average human being within nanoseconds. Superman came back from his own death at the hands of Darkseid. What hope does a taxman have if he went rogue? On that note, why would a taxman go rogue?