Author Topic: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever  (Read 2135 times)

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Online Bigun

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Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« on: April 24, 2013, 06:26:31 pm »
Tax Code More Complex Than Ever

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23096&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Over the decades, the U.S. tax code has become incrementally more complex, with small additions, loopholes and deductions being added slowly. Today's forms and instructions are far more complicated than year's past and the trend is likely to continue, says David Keating of the National Taxpayers Union.

    According to data from the Office of Management and Budget, the current paperwork burden generated by the Internal Revenue Service now totals more than 6.7 billion hours, which is equivalent to about 3.35 million employees working 40-hour weeks year-round with just two weeks off.
    The value of 6.7 billion hours is more than $240 billion, including $34 billion in out-of-pocket expenses (tax return preparation and software costs).
    The most recent publication of the official Tax Code contains more than 3.9 million words, which is a 112,000 word increase from 2010.

In addition to the law itself, there are 20 volumes of regulations spanning 14,000 pages with more than 10 million words.

    Even for the common and simple 1040 tax form, there are 214 pages in the instruction booklet, about five times the number in 1975, one of the many reasons why the IRS has repeatedly said that the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code is the most serious problem facing taxpayers.
    There are more than 2,022 publications, forms and instructions advising the public on tax compliance and average wait times for telephone assistance were more than 15 minutes last year.
    U.S. tax compliance time burden ranks 63rd in the world while the total tax rate -- including corporate, payroll and other taxes -- ranked 132nd out of 185 in the world.

The tax system is so complex that now only paid professionals or tax preparation software navigate the intricacies of the tax code. General Electric, one of America's largest companies, files a tax return of over 24,000 pages every year.

    Today, almost 60 percent of taxpayers use a preparation service, compared to 38 percent in 1980. The cost of such services rose from an average of $27.36 in 1980 to an average of $192 in 2012.
    ObamaCare surtaxes, limits on exemptions and deductions, and a higher death tax rate have increased the tax complexity and more tax laws are currently being considered by Congress.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Online Bigun

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2013, 06:27:45 pm »
It's long past time to end this madness and pass a tax code in keeping with what our founders envisioned!

http://fairtax.org
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2013, 06:32:50 pm »
It's long past time to end this madness and pass a tax code in keeping with what our founders envisioned!

http://fairtax.org

word
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Offline jmyrlefuller

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2013, 06:48:50 pm »
It's long past time to end this madness and pass a tax code in keeping with what our founders envisioned!

http://fairtax.org
Yes, let's implement a tax that will jack up gas to $6 a gallon, milk to $5 a gallon, and is so unworkable that the designers had to implement a handout to make it work.

Look, I'm in favor of streamlining the tax code and making it more equitable as anyone, but the FairTax is not even close to being feasible.
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Online Bigun

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2013, 06:51:53 pm »
Yes, let's implement a tax that will jack up gas to $6 a gallon, milk to $5 a gallon, and is so unworkable that the designers had to implement a handout to make it work.

Look, I'm in favor of streamlining the tax code and making it more equitable as anyone, but the FairTax is not even close to being feasible.

Tell me why and back it up with facts please!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Online Bigun

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2013, 06:53:59 pm »
Yes, let's implement a tax that will jack up gas to $6 a gallon, milk to $5 a gallon, and is so unworkable that the designers had to implement a handout to make it work.

Look, I'm in favor of streamlining the tax code and making it more equitable as anyone, but the FairTax is not even close to being feasible.

The fairtax will do none of the things you mentioned and we have more than $20 million in privately funded research to back that up!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Online Bigun

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2013, 07:03:32 pm »
The fairtax eliminates the Corporate Income Tax and thus removes all the costs of dealing with it! That fact alone will reduce the price of anything produced in the U.S. !
« Last Edit: April 24, 2013, 07:04:26 pm by Bigun »
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline Rapunzel

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2013, 07:08:56 pm »
The fairtax eliminates the Corporate Income Tax and thus removes all the costs of dealing with it! That fact alone will reduce the price of anything produced in the U.S. !

Exactly!.. JMF your post shows how little a lot of people understand about the FairTax.
�The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves.� G Washington July 2, 1776

Oceander

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2013, 12:52:56 am »
I took a corporate tax class with the late Prof. James Eustice; once in class he commented on a rather large reading assignment by saying that he remembered that when he did the tax LLM his first assignment was to read the entire Internal Revenue Code, which at the time was not a particularly large book.  I have the softcover 2012 version on my shelf and it consists of two huge volumes and covers several thousand pages of thin paper.  Then there are the accompanying Treasury Regulations, which consist of 6 volumes, all on thin paper, and again, thousands upon thousands of pages.

Offline xfreeper

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Re: Tax Code More Complex Than Ever
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2013, 02:42:55 am »
Quote
Yes, let's implement a tax that will jack up gas to $6 a gallon, milk to $5 a gallon, and is so unworkable that the designers had to implement a handout to make it work.

Nonsense