The instruction booklet that comes with Apple's new iPad is one page. The instruction booklet that came with this year's IRS 1040 long form was 172 pages.

This raises an obvious question. How can a revolutionary new  product - using about as much computing power as a mainframe computer might have had a few decades ago - be so easy to use, while a tax code serving a constant purpose of funding government be so complex?

The answer is that the iPad is the product of free enterprise. The tax code is a product of politics and, in this age of dysfunctional government, it is a
particularly defective one.

Blame for this rests not with the IRS, which simply administers the tax code, but with Congress, which writes the tax laws. The code gets more complex each year because both parties see it as a tool to reward favored constituencies and special interests rather than a necessary evil to fund government.

For Americans struggling with their taxes, the code is nothing short of a nightmare. The IRS says the average person who fills out his or her own 1040 long form spends an average of 21.4 hours. So it 's no surprise that in tax year 2007, about 86 million Americans used paid professional preparers. But it's a certainty that millions of them ended up signing
returns they don't understand.

The tax code has grown so complex that even the IRS commissioner doesn't prepare his own taxes. Maybe if the president and every member of Congress had to do their returns this year, they'd have a better appreciation for what everyone else has to deal with.

On the other hand, maybe they should just turn the job over to Apple.  

If you are one of the ones that did your tax return yourself and you would like to have a professional tax firm double check it, FOR FREE, please call us.

 

Wishing you many happy returns,