IRS rules for medical deductions are sickening - Forbes.com- msnbc.com

IRS rules for medical deductions are sickening - Forbes.com- msnbc.com: "Long before 'Dirty Jobs' premiered on reality TV, we all understood that some jobs are ickier than others and that we really shouldn't hold an unpleasant job against the person doing it. Hence, the cliché: 'Don't shoot the messenger.'

In the U.S. today, tax collection is seen by many as a dirty job. In fact, some Internal Revenue Service workers are so worried about harassment, violence or just shunning that they use pseudonyms when interacting with the public.

You don't want to hold the tax code against IRS employees whose job it is to interpret, administer and enforce it. Still, there are times when you have to wonder whether the legal technocrats toiling away at the IRS' fortress-like Washington headquarters have lost touch with the common man.

That's how I felt when I read the IRS' take on deducting baby formula as a medical expense. In Private Letter Ruling 200941003, released publicly this month, the IRS denied the request of a mother who had undergone a double-mastectomy that she be allowed to deduct as a medical expense the cost of her baby's infant formula."