Happy Tax Day!

[SteveDallas]

Originally posted by slang
Oddly enough, the *paying* of the tax is not nearly as irritating as the forms that you have to sign under threat of death or worse if you happen to screw up. Thats un American and we should change it.

I agree--I don't mind paying my fair share for government services. [Let's save the argument about what my fair share is for another time.] But it's beyond me how anybody could defend the tax code as it's currently structured.

Oh, wait it's not beyond me. The bureaucracy perpetuates itself. If all the complications disappeared, so would tons of IRS employees, not to mention the work that would be lot by accountants, publishers of tax books & software, etc. etc. etc.

By the way, I note that the President and Mrs. Bush had taxable income of $771,940 for 2002, and paid $268,719 in federal income taxes, a whopping 34.8% rate. What I wonder is: 1) how much NONTAXABLE income did they have? and 2) Did they tell their accountant to avoid saving a bunch of money for the sake of appearances?