Every year individual and corporate taxpayers expend great efforts on complying with our bloated Internal Revenue Code. In her 2010 Annual Report to Congress, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate estimated that we spend OVER 6 BILLION HOURS a year complying with our federal income tax obligations.
IRC complexity (1) costs money and is a drag on our productivity as a nation, (2) favors the sophisticated, (3) encourages uneconomic decisionmaking and tax arbitrage, (4) leads to cynicism among the taxpayers and encourages tax avoidance and evasion, (5) encourages wasteful lobbying and pork-barrel legislation, etc.
Radical simplification of the IRC (separate from an overall tax hike!) will be an easy sell to Congress and the American people.
Mr. President, make our tax system straightforward!