If you thought that tax hack David Cay Johnston was going to idly stand by while the country's tax system spins into a ferocious web of inexplicable rules and soaring criminal deceit, you'd be wrong! Oh, so wrong. The bearded man has a plan and in his Reuters column, he explains that it's really pretty easy: one-third of you shouldn't be filing tax returns:
About 100 million taxpayers — those whose income is entirely from wages and retirement funds, and who do not itemize deductions — should not have to file returns. The government already has the information it needs to calculate the taxes these people owe, once they supply their marital status and number of dependents. It would not take much to automate their income tax payments, as many other modern countries do.
As awesome of a deal as that sounds, DCJ says that the odds of Congress considering his sagacity is "one in 84,000." What will it take, Congress?! This man is handing you solutions! Sure, you might be taking campaign contributions from some kind of Tax Prep Super PAC and the IRS-bashing is always good for a few votes, but just think about how much better 100 million people could live without 1040s or David Cay Johnston columns in their lives. There's a real opportunity here.
How to end tax fraud [DCJ/Reuters]
