Tax Day

Aside: I'm only bothering to post this so I can offer some solidarity to Becky Hirta as she hacks away at the forms for a trust in addition to those for her own income. See the idea below the fold.

Another year, another shipment to Uncle Sam. I always view it as a good thing, looking back at another year of income and outgo, since you only owe more taxes if you make more money. My only irritation was that the "worksheet" for the Alternate Minimum Tax was so conservative that we had to download the form and instructions just to prove that we are not even close to needing to pay it. It was worth it, however, just to appreciate those beautifully written instructions. Not.

My father has an excellent solution to that sort of nonsense:

Pass a law that simply forbids any elected official in the Federal Government, or any member of the executive branch that has to be confirmed by Congress, from using any paid or unpaid tax preparer when filling in their tax form. They could only get help by calling the IRS help line.

Congress and the President would have to do it all by themselves and face the consequences if they misinterpret the instructions or get bad advice from the IRS.

Guaranteed tax reform within one year.