“Perhaps the most telling indicator of taxpayer confusion over the code’s complexity is that today, 90% of individual taxpayers pay for professional tax preparation or tax software to prepare their tax returns. IRS research estimates that, over the past 10 years, the burden for the typical taxpayer has increased by about 20% and would likely be even more if they had to prepare returns themselves without any aids or tools. Moreover, we estimate individual taxpayers and businesses spend more than 7 [billion] hours each year complying with filing requirements.” [Tax-News via Tax Foundation]
Related Posts
Thankfully, Most Americans Show Hatred for the IRS in Less Violent, More Passive-Aggressive Ways
Okay, so the past few weeks we’ve seen some psychotic behavior as it pertains to IRS. And yesterday, someone’s llelo (yes, it’s Utah, but that’s the best we’ve got right now) was mistaken for Anthrax and it caused the FBI and Hazmat to storm the building and leave with bodies wrapped up like mummies. If you’re getting worried that people might be freaking out, you’ve got some solid evidence in your corner.
The good news is that not everyone who hates the IRS with every fiber of their being is so cold that they’ll fly a plane into a building, shoot a gun at their spouse or destroy the very home they live in.
Michelle Lowry knows first-hand how much people hate the Internal Revenue Service.
The 37-year-old Leander woman, who processes forms for the IRS in Austin, confronts that venom regularly. People slip razor blades and pushpins into the same envelopes as their W-2 forms. They send nasty notes with their crumpled documents. Last year during the height of the Tea Party movement, hundreds of taxpayers included — what else? — tea bags with their returns.
See? It is possible to show hatred for the IRS without trying to killing someone or destroying your own property. Let’s try thinking things through before we start going completely batshit insane, shall we?
Passive-aggressive protest seems like a more modern way of showing contempt for the government anyway.
Threats, contempt come with job for IRS workers [Austin American-Statesman]
More IRS Violence: Joseph Stack Was Not the First Violent Tax Protester…and He Won’t Be the Last
Lois Lerner Knows What You People Are Thinking
"I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not […]
Thanks to the IRS, Republican Presidential Candidate Herman Cain Only Made Enough Money to ‘Buy New Golf Clubs and Move to Atlanta’
Soon-to-be failed Presidential candidate Herman Cain is best known for being the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. When he took the job in 1986, the Journal reports “Mr. Cain cut costs and closed unprofitable locations and said that he returned the business to profitability in just 14 months.” An impressive feat to be sure and he continued to sling pie as the CEO until 1996 when he presumably figured he could cash in nicely.
Unfortch for Cain things didn’t really work out. And whose fault would that be? The IRS, of course!
Mr. Cain said that in 1996 he struck a deal to sell his stake in Godfather’s to his partners. That’s when the IRS showed up and commenced an audit of his tax return for the year 1994, coincidentally the year he publicly challenged President Clinton on the impact of his health-care reform plan. Simultaneous audits of Godfather’s and Mr. Cain’s partners were quickly concluded, but Mr. Cain said that the audit of his personal finances dragged on until 1999.
When he finally concluded the sale of his Godfather’s stake, Mr. Cain said that its value had fallen by 75% and yielded only enough money for him to “buy new golf clubs and move to Atlanta.” As for the IRS, they claimed he owed $1.8 million in back taxes, but he said that as soon as he appealed this decision, they immediately dropped the claim and asked only for $40,000 to cover interest on “the money I didn’t owe.” Outraged, he nevertheless paid the bill to resolve the matter. He said that such treatment at the hands of the IRS happens all the time.
Godfather vs. Tax Man [WSJ]