A SPECIAL REPORT: TAXES

WE’RE NO. 1: More tax returns--individual and corporate--went through the Laguna Niguel IRS center last year than through any other IRS office--a total of 7.2 million. The district basically includes all of Southern California south and east of Los Angeles. . . . And the Laguna Niguel district’s 2,300 employees are expected to handle many more returns this year, helping the district get more funding, if not more respect. . . . When the office opened in 1983, “everyone from out east considered us a small district,” says a spokeswoman. “They would say, ‘You’re just a suburb of San Diego.’ ”