What are YOUR ideas on Tax Reform?
Simplify!!!!!!!!!
That a cottage industry has evolved to serve no purpose other than to help people "do their taxes" should be evidence enough that we need simplification. I have never used a service, or software, to "do" my taxes, but I am constantly reminded that many (most?) people do. Just the other day I was in the club working out with a colleague who asked me about my taxes and I mentioned that I didn't quite finish because I was printing PA40 form UE and my printer quit. (Oh, it was a fine printer. It is three years older than my son and has been faithfully printing since 2001, but it started to make a noise a few months ago so I knew it was coming.) Anyway, he immediately said, "printed out forms? You mean, you do it on forms with a pencil? old school, man. I use TurboTax."
?! This particular individual has a PhD in political science and he has to use software to "do" his taxes?!
I've been chastized and hounded by the feds. Sometimes it's good. Once they wrote, "We owe you one thousand dollars. Please call this number if you dispute this." Who would dispute that? Of course I didn't call the number. I awaited my one-thousand dollar check and was glad to receive it. More often it's like this, "We have determined that you owe us six thousand, seven hundred, thirty-three dollars and forty-seven cents. If you pay in the next two weeks there will be no additional interest or penalties..." Or something like that. Once they pissed me off so bad that I called them and had to go through about 20 minutes of menus, only to get "Our call volume is unusually busy at the moment. Please call back at another time." WTF??! I wrote them a harshly-worded letter and disputed the amount that they claimed, as well as the interest rate they charged, and offered them about a third of what they wanted (I was being generous). About a month later I got a letter that stated that my amount would be acceptable.
Mostly I don't make mistakes, but I have to set aside at least an entire weekend to do it. It's insane.
DECIDE HOW MUCH YOU NEED AND TAKE IT! JUST FU
CKING TAKE IT. DON'T MAKE IT SO COMPLICATED.
That's all I'd suggest.
