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“The IRS tax return is too difficult for a
mathematician. It takes a philosopher.”
– Albert Einstein
Will Rogers once bantered, “It is a good thing we do not
get as much government as we pay for.” If you ask any American today, few will
agree.
For a nation founded in defiance of high taxes, we are
now a nation of high taxes. And the reason is obvious: We pay for more
government than we want, or need.
The archives of history are filled with pages of nations
that have risen and fallen because of taxation. Revolts, uprisings, and wars
have been fought over taxes. The one issue these nations have held in
federation is not how and why they were levied, but for whose benefit? And no
matter how fair or abusive they’ve been, since the first tax was extorted our
laws remain more ambiguous than maneuvering though a house of mirrors. And they
become more cryptically complex yearly.
The apophthegm, “Taxes are the price we pay for a
civilized society” is etched over the entrance to the IRS in Washington D.C. As
Americans file tax returns on April 15, most will join the list of those who
feel violated by the IRS. Since The Revenue Act of 1913 legalized the federal
income tax, it’s been less popular than hemlock. But like government, Americans
accept taxes as a necessary evil if they feel they are getting a return on
their investment. But that remains a slippery slope.
Not only has the tax code
become more difficult to navigate than the Louisiana Bayou, for years Americans
have felt they’ve been shortchanged, and the federal income tax has evolved
into “legalized theft.”
In November of 1789, Ben Franklin wrote to French
publicist Jean-Baptiste Leroy cautioning him: “In this world nothing can be
said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Since the Constitution did not
specifically approve a federal income tax, the clairvoyant Franklin was
hesitant to say it was a done deal. One of the most contentious issues facing
our nation has always been “taxes” and none so intolerable than the federal
income tax. It took over 150 years for the feds to conceptualize that Herculean
barbarian we call the IRS tax code. It’s a penalty we pay for earning a basic
living
“It takes more effort to complete a tax form
than it takes to make the income."
– Alfred Cosgrove
Every year people make excuses why they don’t feel
obligated to pay federal taxes. Their favorite is the 5th Amendment, which
maintains that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process." If that doesn’t work, some simply claim that filing
an income tax is voluntary because form 1040 says it is.
Others cite the 13th
Amendment, which outlawed slavery. If all else fails, they repeat Article I
Section 10 of the Constitution. This grants the federal government power to
create and regulate money but limits legal currency exclusively to gold and
silver coins only.
This exemplifies how:
“The income tax has made liars out of more
Americans than golf.”
– Will Rogers
Americans would not hate paying taxes if the IRS tax code
was not so convoluted. There are over 7 million words in the IRS tax code.
That’s more than in the Gettysburg address, the Declaration of Independence,
and the Bible. According to the Commerce Clearing House, the pages within the
tax codes and regulations increased from 26,300 in 1984 to 70,000 by 2014.
The
only people happy with that are the million tax preparers that laugh all the
way to the bank. In 2016, H&R Block made $3 billion in revenue. Intuit made
more than $4.5 billion, with 42 percent, or $2 billion, from their consumer tax
group.
“An income tax form is like a laundry list.
Either way you lose your shirt.”
– Fred Allen
There were 402 tax forms in 1990, and by 2002 that number
jumped to over 526. Today they have over 600, but who is counting?
The easiest form most people use is the 1040. It is so
easy the IRS prints 33 pages of instructions on how to fill out this “simple”
form. They print over 8 billion pages in forms, instructions and new rules
every year. Where are all the “tree-huggers”?
Although the IRS is attempting to use more recycled
paper, they’ve been sacrificing over 300,000 trees every year. For a decade,
H&R Block and Intuit have lobbied against simplified tax forms. Last year,
they spent $5 billion in “tax deductible lobbying fees.” Others spent over $4
billion defending the tax code they just love for us to hate!
"How much money did you make last year?
Mail it in."
– Stanton Delaplane
Over 20 percent of paper tax returns have errors, but
only 1 percent of e-file returns have them. Now the IRS is encouraging us to
file returns via the internet. But this is a paradox.
This costs big bucks to
do if we use tax preparation software. And there are few ways you can do this
on your own. If your adjusted gross income is less than $66,000 and you have no
deductions, you might be eligible to file for free through the IRS’s Free File
Alliance. But there is catch.
This alliance is made up of income tax for profit
software companies. And one can easily get hoodwinked into paying for things
that sound too good to be true. And all on-line tax prep conglomerates have
“got ya’s” hidden between the lines.
Henry Ford said, “Government gets less return for their
dollars than any American business.” The IRS has over 80,000 employees. That’s
more than the CIA and the FBI combined.
To be fair, the CIA headcount is a
close guess. We never know who is lurking in government’s shadows.
President
Donald Trump will verify that. The border wall he wants to construct for our
security will cost roughly $21 billion. Yet socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
is shaming him for this expense. Does she really have a degree in economics?
Does she belong in Congress?
If the IRS stopped making payments to illegal
immigrants for the additional child credit and earned income tax credit for one
year, it would pay for the entire wall!
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure; the
creed of ignorance.”
– Winston Churchill
What the IRS doesn’t tell us really hurts. If you don’t
itemize and claim the standard deduction, the average deduction is around
$8,000. But those that itemize, average $26,084. According to figures from the
Tax Federation, Americans spend $200 billion and 5.4 billion hours on their
federal taxes yearly.
That’s more than it costs to produce every car and truck
made in the U.S. Federal taxes eat up over 35 percent of the average U.S.
family’s income. Their tax bill eclipses what they spend on food, clothing and
shelter. And that does not include what they get from government entitlements.
We are not alone in our distain for taxes.
In 60 A.D.,
the queen of Boadicea executed all of their tax collectors.
In 1789, French
taxmen were sent to the guillotine. In the Middle Ages, tax agents were
bushwhacked, tortured and killed.
In 1629, King Charles I was accused of
treason and lost his head for abusive taxation.
In 1800, the English parliament
declared their income tax was illegal and ordered all records publicly burned.
Recalling what happened to Charlie, the Chancellor of the Exchequer complied.
The most notable tax revolt to date took place in 1013 when Leofric, Earl of
Mercia, promised to reduce taxes if Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets.
He raised taxes instead. And that is almost as bad a prank as we played upon
ourselves at Boston Harbor in 1773.
This won’t make people feel better when they labor
through the IRS tax code this year; but for each $100 the IRS collects, it
costs us only forty cents. While you still might hate the IRS, consider this a
blessing; they might raise our taxes next year! What other agency runs so
efficiently? Nary a one.
For all those tax procrastinators, think twice before you
fail to file a return on time this year.
"The difference between tax avoidance
and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall."
– Denis Healey
