Hamill: The IRS got shot. Now it’s up to the posse.

“I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot the deputy.” In 1974, Eric Clapton turned this Bob Marley cover into Clapton’s only No. 1 hit.

Marley’s protest song really had nothing to do with sheriffs and deputies, but it fits my story today.

Anyone who has watched Western movies has seen the local sheriff form a posse. The sheriff deputizes townsfolk to ride out with him to catch the outlaws.

The posse can be fearsome. In the 1969 movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the posse forced the bad guys to flee to Bolivia.

The posse chase began when Butch and his gang robbed a train. The posse quickly picked off two of the six gang members.

When the gang split into two groups, Butch and Sundance were dismayed to learn that the entire posse followed them.

Butch and Sundance tried to shake the posse. When they could not, they asked, “Who are those guys?”

Butch and Sundance escaped this crack posse only by risking death with a leap off a cliff into a swirling river.

In another movie, “Unforgiven” from 1992, Clint Eastwood’s character killed Gene Hackman’s character in the final scene.

Hackman’s “Little Bill” character gave final instructions to the posse as Eastwood’s “William Munny” burst into the saloon.

“Posse comitatus” is Latin for “power of the county.” The legal ability to form a posse traces its roots to the English common law.

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act limits the ability to use the military as a posse to supplement law enforcement.

But a sheriff needing help in catching lawbreakers could deputize some local folk to provide that help.

Townspeople seeking law and order might, like the old Westerns, first look to the local sheriff to keep the peace.

If a town was interested in law and order, it would seem counterproductive to shoot the sheriff.

What if a prescient sheriff deputized a large posse long before some of the townspeople turned on him?

Presumably, the posse could take up the sheriff’s cause following his death. If you shoot the sheriff maybe you also need to shoot the deputy.

CPAs, attorneys and enrolled agents are granted special practice rights by the Treasury Department. In exchange, they need to follow Treasury’s rules.

When I first became a CPA, one of these rules was that you could not advise a tax position to a client unless it had a “reasonable basis.”

Later, this standard was changed to a “realistic possibility of success.” Later still, it changed to “more likely than not.”

The more likely than not was eventually changed to the current standard — “substantial authority.”

A regulated tax practitioner serves a role like a member of the posse. They help establish and maintain order.

The posse is not the sheriff. They are just members of a community — in my example, the regulated professional community — that can be of help to the sheriff.

If the sheriff is shot, but the deputy is not, perhaps some semblance of order can be maintained.

Think of the IRS as the sheriff. Thanks to DOGE and Congress, he’s been gutshot and is bleeding out on the street.

But there remains a deputized posse. With the sheriff down they might cut and run. But maybe they’ll stay true to the charge the sheriff established for them.

Reasonable basis was interpreted to be about 20-25% chance of success if challenged. Realistic possibility was about one-in-three chance of success.

More likely than not means more than 50% chance of success. Substantial authority means about 40-45% chance of success.

The posse’s charge has changed over the years. But the standard of behavior expected of posse members has about doubled over my career.

The posse, as members of the town, can still lean to the outlaws. Unlike the sheriff, a posse might step in only for the most egregious behaviors.

Treasury uses regulated tax professionals as a posse. When the sheriff cannot intervene, the posse must keep some measure of order.

I believe that the sheriff has been gutshot. Hopefully, the town’s doctor can get to him before he dies.

But a posse remains. Who are those guys? CPAs, attorneys and enrolled agents. They can lean to the client, but only enough to still have 40-45% chance of success.

With the sheriff wounded, the role of the posse may grow. It may be our best chance to avoid a Wild West tax system run by outlaws.