Tax relief services

I've been seeing commercials on TV offering tax relief for people who owe at least $10,000 or more to the IRS. I'm not a big fan of taxes, and I believe our tax structure is set up rather unfairly. But I'm not interested in that debate today.

Everyone should pay their fair share. I realize it's only a commercial, but one example shows a professional (appears to be a dentist) who owed $250,000 and settled for $60,000. He stated that he was glad that he didn't lose his practice. I realize that this example they gave was probably not the norm, but it must be a possibility that someone who owed that much money would try to settle.

Now, here's my point: how did he owe so much?

I could see someone owning $10,000. They made a miscalculation with a large inheritance, or some other such mess. It can happen. But here's where I have a problem. Why is it settled and forgiven? Shouldn't they also have a re-payment plan? You can't owe 10's of 1000's of dollars unless you made and most likely will continue to make, 10's of 1000's of dollars. A working schlub like myself doesn't get a chance to settle for less that what we owe. The government gets its cut up front, before I get my pay. It's taken out before I get the chance to screw up. So why are others given the chance, and not only forgiven for the mistake, but seemingly rewarded? Just a bit more of the inequity of our system. The wealthy get an opportunity to take advantage of the system while the guys in the middle continue to get slapped around.