@BobKamman 

Of course I was aware of CO. My recollection is that they began self service during CoVid a few years back. My friend was annoyed because he said it that although it was supposed to be temporary thing,  once the aggregators like Walmart, Costco etc got their way, there'd be no going back... "Paying labor" is a  whole lot more expensive for the big guys than the small retailers. Without paying labor, the big guys have a lot more price leverage and tend to force the mom & pop shops out.... NJ economic realities (we still have plenty of payola, paying under the table, illegals, etc.).... Suffice it to say that in April 2020 my friends gas station was pumping at 151.9/gal and Walmart was higher...BTW, I've been in Fl (pump your own) for a couple of months... 2 weeks ago, I pumped for an old guy w/ handicap plates just sitting in his car waiting for an attendant to come out.... One of the employees was busy selling coffee, sandwiches, and smokes. The other was around the side of the building having a smoke...  

Not sure what 'pro-regulation friends' refers to but he is about as far right as they come (and a retired cop).  I have no clue what  your 'pro-choice' statement refers to.... 

I don't claim to be an expert on innocent spouse rules. I've only had a couple in the last 4 years or so... new client 2nd marriage to  a disabled carpenter on SDI. She was an asst. teacher w/ 2 kids maybe 20K. I asked some questions and told her she'd probably get a pretty nice refund. She said 'they're only gonna keep it like they did last year"... apparently he had some pretty big sins against the irs in a prior life... so she did get the $$ and a 1040x.. that's what ISR is there for.   I do agree w/ you that you have to ask questions (which you tried with the OP).... I still don't see much in the way of a response... and yeah, I read the posts with the amounts and scratched my head too. I don't buy any of those numbers without a better explanation.