Does the IRS Scare You?

Too many people fear the IRS.  They're scared for a variety of reasons.  The tax code is way too complex.  Consequently, we can never feel very comfortable that we've filled out the return correctly.  Why does it need to be this way?  It doesn't.

Congress uses the IRS code to pick winners and losers in business.  For example, tax deductions for alternative energy give alternative energy producers an edge when facing coal or natural gas.  If the alternative energy doesn't have the edge, the tax break at least narrows the strategic gap between competing technologies.  People get a tax deduction for interest on a home mortgage.  Doesn't this reduce the cost of buying a house and give home ownership an unfair advantage versus renting?  I'm really happy to take that tax deduction, but why did the congress use tax laws to alter my behavior?

So why does congress feel that the government has any place telling us how to live our lives or run our businesses?  They use the power of taxation to encourage us to buy certain things?  They use the depreciation write-offs to encourage businesses to upgrade their aging equipment.  Why does a business need the government to tell them when a machine or building should be replaced?  Do bureaucrats or politicians have a better idea of how the business should operate?  I hardly think so.

Do they make the tax code complex to keep tax attorneys and accountants busy?  Probably not.  That's just a side benefit.  We spend a lot of money getting the tax return prepared.  Or maybe we spend a lot of our free time filling out the return ourselves.  We buy tax preparation software.  Businesses collect sales taxes on behalf of the government, and collect them without being paid for the service.  We pay gasoline taxes, utilities taxes, telephone taxes, property tax, personal property tax, auto license fees, a dog license, and more.

After all of this, the IRS still is nothing but a brutal collection agency.  They can throw you in jail if they decide you haven't played by their rules.  Of course, the rules are complex and open for interpretation.  Will they audit you if your ideology is different from the IRS directors?  If you are starting a political action committee or other political group that has the wrong political leanings, will your application for tax exempt status be delayed or denied?

The IRS is part of the government.  The government is there to serve us, the citizens of the United States.  Who serves whom?  This isn't right.  This is a MessAPolitico.  Simplify the tax code and then, simplify the IRS.