The Patriot Post® · Tax Filing: Back to Basics

In just a few weeks, millions of Americans will be scrambling to beat the Income Redistribution Day tax-filing deadline. And none of them need us to explain just how byzantine the system is. According to National Taxpayers Union president Pete Sepp, every year taxpayers lose $234 billion and allocate 6.1 billion hours ensuring their tax filings conform to federal standards. And Sepp warns that this figure will soar if Congress fails to enact much-needed reform. “The problem is the status quo — thinking that, well, if we don’t do tax reform this year it will just be that bad,” he explained at a Tax Foundation event. “No, the status quo is not the static quo — it’s going to get worse.” In just a few short years, several billion hours and tens of billions of dollars will likely be added to these figures.

It’s worth pointing out that the Mercatus Center, in its 2013 report “The Hidden Costs of Tax Compliance,” puts comprehensive tax-filing expenses potentially far higher. According to that analysis, “The tax code averages more than one change per day. The resulting complexity creates hidden compliance costs between $215 billion and $987 billion annually.” Either way, everyone agrees that hundreds of billions of dollars are required for proper tax compliance.

The Left loves to rail against “the wealthy” who exploit loopholes, but the truth is that the tax code is chock-full of onerous requirements. Even ordinary Americans can’t file their taxes without wondering in the back of their mind if they’ve screwed up something. In 2015, Sen, Ted Cruz stated, “Instead of a tax code that crushes innovation, that imposes burdens on families struggling to make ends meet, imagine a simple flat tax that lets every American fill out his or her taxes on a postcard.” Based solely on the statistics, most Americans would probably be okay with that.