I am Michael Bull, a constituent of yours living in Murfreesboro, TN. I am part of a local citizen’s task force seeking reform of the Internal Revenue Service and the current tax code. No one likes paying taxes, yet most acknowledge the necessity for them; and we all receive benefits from these taxes in one form or another. However, the massive Internal Revenue Service and the overwhelming number of tax laws and their complexity place undue burden on most tax payers and filers.
Issue Background
For corporations and individual tax filers alike, filing one’s taxes is no small feat due to the tax code’s complexity and volume. The number of laws, exclusions, exemptions, credits, taxes, deductions, and revisions are more than any one person
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Reforming the US tax code into a document a fraction of its current size would help elevate this type of abuse and make it more difficult for people to misuse its content for their own personal agenda. Rogue agents are not the only ones who abuse this monstrosity, the more tax savvy a filer is, the better they are at tax avoidance with so many area to benefit. Whereas a less proficient tax filer or one who cannot afford a professional to prepare their taxes are likely to lose out on deductions or credits they may have otherwise been able to claim had they known about them. Also, with so many parts to the tax code coupled with the number of tax filers, it is impossible to audit are tax returns filed by the shrinking size of the Internal Revenue Service employees. This allows for more criminals to commit fraud in their filings.
Another area of concern for us is the amount of time and money spent annually on filing tax returns to ensure compliance of a document of this magnitude. According to the Internal Revenue Service’s own web site in a report presented to Congress 9 Jan. 2013 by the National Taxpayer Advocate Delivers Annual Report to Congress; Focuses on Tax Reform, IRS Funding, and Identity Theft, “individuals and businesses spend about 6.1 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements.” That is equivalent to more than 3 million people working
Now the following information is well documented and is presented for your review and edification. Do not try to fight the IRS in federal court, you will not win. The deception runs rampant throughout the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
While most taxpayers agree that tax reform is necessary for our country the problem they encounter is the difficulty they experience when trying to understand all the political terms used when discussing tax reform. This paper is an attempt to help the taxpayers of our country to better understand the political terminology and gain knowledge about some of the proposals that have been explored.
Hoffman, W., Maloney, D., Raabe, W., & Young, J. (2013). Federal Taxation Comprehensive Volume. (36 ed.). Ohio: South-W
People do not enjoy talking about taxes because they are too political, confusing, and depressing. It is no secret that the American tax code is a mess and something many economists describe as too broken to fix. Despite this, politicians have never stopped from trying to “fix” the code, yet they have had very little success. The U.S. Government’s tax code currently comprises “more than 67,000 pages of complexities” (Boortz, Linder, & Woodall 14). The Americans for Fair Taxation (AFFT) was founded in 1995 with one goal: create the simplest and best tax reform plan that would work in the modern market and economy. The AFFT’s best solution was a bill which they promptly called the FairTax.
The current tax code for the United States is almost 74,000 pages long. Or to put that into a different light: About 116 copies of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. It is small wonder that a few of the announced candidates for President of the United States, have again begun to kick the tires on the topic of a Flat Tax. But is a flat tax actually a solution to our country’s growing tax complexity? What are the potential economic effects of a flat tax (both positive and negative)? Finally, is a flat tax even a viable solution? In short, will it work? As a concept, a flat tax is spectacular. Simplicity at its finest. As a fiscal policy, I believe that same simplicity must be examined and inspected closely.
Drutman states that tax codes are one of the most lobbied things in the United States. A tax code that is as simple as possible is generally considered to desirable for a business as a whole. However, a tax code that has caveats here and there that favor certain companies, is more desirable to the respective company. Due to this, companies lobby heavily to mold tax codes in a way that favors them. According to Congressman Bill Frenzel, the lobbying done by corporations has resulted in a tax code that is “a hopelessly complex mess, antithetical to growth, and is crammed with conflicting incentives."
Thank you for coming to our offices and allowing us to review and discus your concerns regarding your tax questions. I have been assigned to reply to your questions and I have listed my recommendations below. After you both have reviewed these recommendations, please contact me so we can go over any additional questions you may have.
Stanton Delaplane once joked about the IRS, saying he heard it had suggested a simplified tax form with only one question: How much money did you make last year? The IRS response was, "Mail it in"." Thank goodness, our taxes haven 't gotten quite that bad. It is true though, that the majority of Americans, most of us included, have to bite the
First I urge you all to fix our broken personal tax code, a tax code that because of complexity allows some to slip by at the expense of the government and the American people. Our current process of personal income taxation is so complex most Americans are clueless as to how much they are paying and where it is going. What the American people want is fairness, what the American people deserve is fairness, and what this body of congress has the moral obligation to provide is fairness. Not only do we need to eliminate loopholes and complexity but we also need to tax at a level of Austerity that is realistic for our spending. Asking senators, congressman, and congresswoman to try implementing policy that could potentially mean
This is just one case of bureaucratic fraud, in one section of bureaucracy. The tax system, the IRS, and the federal spending are all symptoms of a huge fatal sickness that is government greed and the grab for power. This brings back the original idea of the government does
Currently, the United States has a federal income tax that is very difficult to understand, to comply with,
The United States tax system is in complete disarray. Republicans and Democrats agree that the current tax code is complex, unfair, and costly. The income tax system is so complex; the IRS publishes 480 tax forms and 280 forms to explain the 480 forms (Armey 1). The main reason the tax system is so complex is because of the special preferences such as deductions and tax credits. Complexity in the current tax system forces Americans to spend 5.4 billion hours complying with the tax code, which is more time than it takes to manufacture every car, truck and van produced in the United States (Armey 1). Time is not the only thing that is lost with the current tax system; Americans also lose
All the tax-related matters should be handled with utmost sincerity and carefulness. The government should take strict action to it and stick in the favor of citizens of the country who are honestly paying high taxes. In any way, the public should not feel cheated and disappointed.
That is why you should make sure that you report all important information to the IRS. If you are doing your taxes yourself, then it is a good idea to have a professional look over your forms to make sure you have included all of the necessary information.
The individual income tax is complicated, and it violates transparency standards through created loopholes (or tax preferences) which allow some to pay less than their fair share of taxes (Mikesell, 2011). In 2005, more than 70 percent of individuals filing taxes had tax preparers complete their returns because of confusing rules and regulations that could penalize taxpayers for qualifying for certain legal tax preferences (Mikesell, 2011). This transparency problem exists because citizens are really unaware of how to determine their tax liability except at the end of the year. Income taxes are collected annually through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and there are constant complaints about the IRS not willing to assist taxpayers