IS IT TRUE? Part 2 April 15, 2011 TRADITIONAL TAX DAY

IS IT TRUE? Part 2 April 15, 2011 TAX DAY

IS IT TRUE that today is the TRADITIONAL deadline for all of us to file our federal and state income tax forms?…that this year we have been given 3 extra days and that Monday is the drop dead date?…that the federal income tax was first enacted in 1862 to support the Union’s Civil War effort?…that it was eliminated in 1872, revived in 1894, then DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY THE SUPREME COURT the following year?…that in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system?…that the budget to run the IRS is now up to $12.6 Billion per year?…that the number of tax returns filed by individuals in the United States is at a record high approaching 150 Million returns per year?…that over 50 Million of these tax forms were filed by people who had no income tax liability at all?…that the unnecessary complexity and the plethora of credits, deductions, subsidies, selective treatments etc. make each citizens efforts to pay their fair share and no more mindboggling?…that not only is the tax a burden to some people but having to pay a professional preparer can take a good bite out of the budgets of both individuals and businesses?

IS IT TRUE that a very large majority of those forms are prepared by a paid third party?…that LAWYERS and ACCOUNTANTS have benefitted greatly from the inane complexity of the United States Tax Code?…that according to the National Taxpayers Union over $26 Billion was spent by individuals on tax preparation in 2007 was $26.5 Billion?…that in the same report stated that “in the most recent Fiscal Year (FY), the IRS estimated that individual and business taxpayers spent 6.65 billion hours complying with the tax laws. That is the equivalent of 3.2 million employees working 40-hour weeks year-round without any vacation. Counting time and money for individual taxpayers, the compliance burden would total an incredible $102 billion for individual taxpayers alone.”?

IS IT TRUE that when the IRS budget and the cost of the burden of compliance on taxpayers is added up that the total burden on American society just for compliance due to unnecessary complexity is now approaching $120 Million?…that this is triple the “historic” budget cut of $38 Billion that really turned out to be a paltry $352 Million and saved us from a government shut down just last Friday?…that corporate numbers while not available are probably even higher?…that the General Electric Corporation that paid ZERO TAXES filed a 24,000 page tax return?…that we really wonder what benefit that the IRS received from that exercise in mental gyration?…that at the wages that GE pays is professional staff that there is no telling how many tens of millions of dollars that GE spends per year just on compliance?…that it just seems like a simple system like a flat tax on both individuals and businesses would liberate an enormous amount of money for more constructive uses than compliance with arcane, unnecessary, and mostly without benefit to anyone rules?

IS IT TRUE that if you are really in the mood to be astonished at the size of the burden of compliance that a link to the National Taxpayer’s Union report is below?…that the unlearned people who assert that the City County Observer does not cite sources need to go back and look through our archives?…that they will prove themselves wrong if they have the courage to face their own prejudices?…that the City County Observer takes great pride in citing scholarly sources from universities and think tanks all over the world?

http://www.ntu.org/news-and-issues/taxes/income-tax/a-taxing-trend-the-rise-in-tax-complexity-2007.html