Source: The Daily Caller
By George Allen
For most Americans, April marks the time when they have their most direct interaction with their government — and it is an experience most of us dread. April is tax time, and each April Americans are confronted with the complicated, stressful mess that Washington calls the Internal Revenue Code.
Our tax code is so complex that almost everybody needs help to comply with the laws, regulations and rules. The IRS estimates that 89% of Americans hire someone else to prepare their taxes or use computer software to assist them. It is no wonder. The tax code fills 25 volumes, and consists of 3.8 million words (as a point of reference, the Bible contains fewer than 775,000 words).
Complexity is costly. According to a 2010 report from the National Taxpayer Advocate — an independent ombudsman for the IRS — taxpayers and businesses spend about 6.1 billion hours a year complying with the filing requirements for their taxes at a cost of $163 billion. That is in addition to what we actually pay in taxes. One could say that families and businesses must spend so much money (and time) on tax preparation that the complicated tax code itself acts as an extra tax on us and the flow of our economy. This is a waste of productive time and money.
Something is terribly wrong with a tax code that is too complicated and burdensome for most citizens to comfortably navigate on their own — and not because they are not smart enough. When Money Magazine asked 45 tax experts to fill out a hypothetical family’s taxes, every one of them came up with a different bottom line — 45 different tax calculations, ranging from $36,322 to $94,438!
There have been efforts to simplify the tax code in the past, including proposals to switch to a flat tax that eliminates the maze of deductions, exemptions, and special rules in exchange for a lower tax rate. The format is so simple that the entire federal tax return can be reduced to a single postcard. The end result is that overall tax liability can be the same — or even reduced. Either way, individuals and businesses save by not having to collect all their information and pay for tax preparation services or software.
One would think such a common-sense approach to taxation would be simple to enact into law — but not in Washington. Like so many good ideas that make it past the Beltway, the flat tax meets stiff opposition from those battling to preserve their particular tax breaks. Now many of these tax breaks are good when considered individually — many of them are intended to help people and businesses — but combined they have turned into a confusing labyrinth.
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