I.R.S. Watchdog Calls for Tax Code Overhaul
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
NYT
The various calls to revamp the nation’s highly complex tax code were joined by a significant new voice on Wednesday — the I.R.S.’s own taxpayer advocate, who urged that the system be rewritten for the first time in a generation.
Nina E. Olson, the national tax advocate who acts as an ombudsman for the I.R.S., issued a sweeping criticism of federal tax policy in her annual report to Congress. Ms. Olson found that the volume of the tax code had nearly tripled in size during the last decade — to 3.8 million words in February 2010 from 1.4 million in 2001. She estimated that Americans spent 6.1 billion hours preparing their returns each year — the equivalent of 3 million employees working full time. By comparison, the federal payroll has 2.1 million full-time workers.
The byzantine tax regulations also deprived the government of revenue by causing accidental underpayments and encouraging cheating, the report concluded, stating that the most practical remedy would be for Congress to scrap the existing code, which was last overhauled in 1986.
“The time for tax reform and tax simplification is now,” Ms. Olson said.
(More here.)
NYT
The various calls to revamp the nation’s highly complex tax code were joined by a significant new voice on Wednesday — the I.R.S.’s own taxpayer advocate, who urged that the system be rewritten for the first time in a generation.
Nina E. Olson, the national tax advocate who acts as an ombudsman for the I.R.S., issued a sweeping criticism of federal tax policy in her annual report to Congress. Ms. Olson found that the volume of the tax code had nearly tripled in size during the last decade — to 3.8 million words in February 2010 from 1.4 million in 2001. She estimated that Americans spent 6.1 billion hours preparing their returns each year — the equivalent of 3 million employees working full time. By comparison, the federal payroll has 2.1 million full-time workers.
The byzantine tax regulations also deprived the government of revenue by causing accidental underpayments and encouraging cheating, the report concluded, stating that the most practical remedy would be for Congress to scrap the existing code, which was last overhauled in 1986.
“The time for tax reform and tax simplification is now,” Ms. Olson said.
(More here.)
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