The tax code is broken. It is a burden to taxpayers who must comply with over 70,000 pages of provisions and regulations. Each year, families and small businesses find themselves collectively spending more than six billion hours and $160 billion dollars to file their taxes. This is an unnecessary drag on our economy and robs taxpayers of time better spent with their family and growing their business.–Rep. Tom Reed
Tom neglects to mention that the tax code was constructed by Congress; each provision or loophole serves or served someone’s interest. The tax code is complex because not everyone’s situation is comparable–some demand or deserve special consideration.
There are so many special loopholes and special rules that roughly 90 percent of taxpayers must use either special software or paid professionals to help navigate and prepare their tax return.
Focusing on the cost and bother of filing a tax return, Tom distracts readers from the larger question–how much tax revenue is needed, on whom does the burden fall, and who will be shortchanged if revenue is inadequate?
Over the last two decades, other countries have aggressively modernized and simplified their own tax systems. Today, the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world, making it harder for U.S. companies to grow and compete in the global economy. Comprehensive tax reform would foster the right climate to invest and create jobs in America instead of shipping those jobs overseas.
There he goes again, complaining about high corporate tax rates without noting that the effective rate is much lower. There is also the false promise that lower taxes for corporations would create jobs–the discredited trickle down theory.
On the Ways and Means Committee, we are committed to common sense, comprehensive tax reform through a simpler, fairer, less costly tax code that protects taxpayers – not special interests.
Common sense, comprehensive, simpler, and fairer are buzz words, not concrete proposals. All sound good; all likely mask shifting the necessary burden of taxation from the rich to the rest.
© William Hungerford – December 2014
New NY 23rd 
http://www.atr.org/top-percent-pays-more-taxes-bottom-a3619CachedSimilar
Jul 31, 2009 … New data Released by the IRS has just shown that the top 1% income earners
pays more in tax than the bottom 95% combined. An analysis of …
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usgovinfo.about.com/od/incometaxandtheirs/a/whopaysmost.htmCachedSimilar
The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 33.7 percent of all individual income taxes in
2002. This group of taxpayers has paid more than 30 percent of individual …
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fyi.uwex.edu/eitc/about/CachedSimilar
Even workers whose earnings were too small to have taxes withheld can get the
EIC. … If you owe no taxes, but qualify for the EIC, you will get a refund check for …
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https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax…/tax…Tax…/Can…Income-Tax…if…Have… Income-/INF14238.htmlCachedSimilar
Any year you have minimal or no income, you may be able to skip filing your tax
return … you can receive a refund even if you had no income and paid no taxes.
beat that, pay ZERO in taxes and still get a refund. I’ve seen people who didn’t work at all get $7,000.00 back.
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“….families and small businesses find themselves collectively spending more than six billion hours and $160 billion dollars to file their taxes.” Where did Tom Reed get his numbers?
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This may be where Tom found the figures, but there are no supporting documents that I found.
Click to access tax_reform_executive_summary.pdf
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Which directs people to the FixOurTaxCode Facebook page – a very recent addition to the propaganda machine with 367 “like”s. https://www.facebook.com/FixOurTaxCode/timeline
And it seems only the IRS could come up with totals that are true.
For example, the IRS lists some few statistics here:
IRS http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040/ar03.html
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Don’t forget the GOP doesn’t trust the IRS.
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Sorry Bob, I get an “We’re sorry, we can’t find the page you requested.” comment by following your link. I need to see what the page really said, and what was said during the “…” to understand what they mean. Please give the full link, or provide the search term you used to find the your information.
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I think what Tom means is that as long as Tom has to fork over dime one in taxes, the whole thing’s askew.
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When in fact, it’s the IRS that shouldn’t trust the GOP..still waiting for the “Who, Where, and When”…
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