DEATH AND TAXES

Each year, the joy of Christmas is tempered by knowledge that, immediately after the New Year, I will begin a process of untold hours in tax documentation for my accountant.  And, each year, I wonder why it is that there is not some sort of remuneration for putting in all of those uncompensated hours.

 While exercising early this morning at Gold's Gym, I was able to catch some of the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on recent problems with the Internal Revenue Service.  That set me to thinking, and later in the morning I began looking for information.  What I found was truly astounding.

Our U.S. tax code now comprises  20 big volumes, which by the way, may be ordered from the Government Printing Office for around $940.00.  Depending on who is doing the counting, the tax code contains approximately 6 billion words.  And, with 2,000 different IRS forms that are available for taxpayers,  it is little wonder that tax professionals must be consulted by citizens struggling to meet the annual April 15th deadline.

SARAH INGRAM, FORMER HEAD OF IRS TAX-EXEMPT
DEPT.TO HEAD NEW OBAMACARE DIVISION

With approximately 50,000 employees, the IRS has a small army of attorneys, processors, accountants, clerks and enforcement officers.  And, if and when Affordable Health Care legislation kicks in, the IRS staff will be augmented by 2,000 new agents.

Each year, Americans spend at least 400 billion dollars in complying with the tax code.  In effect, our tax code has spawned lucrative business opportunities for legions of attorneys and accountants.  But, with a myriad of exemptions, exceptions and deductions, and 20 volumes of bureaucratic verbiage, it is doubtful that any one person could ever comprehend U.S. tax law in its entirety.  And how can we forget all those taxpayer tales of woe about widely different answers to the same questions posed to different IRS officers!  

I seem to recall that somewhere in American history, the origins of the Republic had something to do with taxation.  And Americans from time to time have had various things to say about taxes. It was quite early in our history, for example, when  Benjamin Franklin spoke his famous words on the certainty of death and taxes, words that, for me, are brought to mind each January.  In the 20th century, President Reagan had this to say: "The taxpayer- that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."  Certainly, no truer words were ever spoken!

More and more taxpayers these days are getting the impression that the system may be broken.  But let's not forget that we the citizens own the government, and we ought to be able demand a system that is not only efficient but is also fair, impartial, non-partisan and readily comprehended by ordinary Americans. It could be that  alternatives, such as the flat tax or the value-added tax, offer these attributes.

Dear readers, is it not time that our public servants make some good faith effort to determine if there just might be a better way to support our government? Otherwise, we may very well remain stuck with a system in which the act of dying is far less complex and convoluted than the act of tax compliance.