Dear State of California Franchise Tax Board,

The 2003 tax booklet and tax return came in the mail this past week and I am confused about something which I think needs to be clarified. Not the tax return itself or its instructions (those were easy enough to follow), but something else. The booklet cover, actually. The cover of the 2003 Personal Income Tax Booklet has a picture of a young tree with a text bubble above one of its top branches that reads, “I DON’T...want to grow up to be a tax return!” and below the tree more text says, “YOU can stop the waste today...E-file.”

This attempted environmentally-friendly campaign strikes me as insincere. I don’t mean to state the obvious here, but a tax booklet and tax return has now already been printed and sent to me. It would seem to me that I would actually be helping to stop waste by making use of the wasteful tax return that was sent to me in the mail. The most paper that I could possibly save at this point would be the stamp which I’d be mailing to the Franchise Tax Board along with my printed tax return. Maybe a more fitting slogan would be: “You can’t stop the waste involved in the printing of this tax booklet to tell you to use an alternative to it, but you can save the cost of a stamp by using...E-file.” It’s sorta catchy?

If anyone at the Franchise Tax Board would like to explain this illogicality to me, my phone number is listed below...and everything else is on the attached tax return.

Sincerely,

Noah *****