Yes it is. A well written one at that...I hope it stays up.
The moderators should apply this liberally to their trigger fingers before reading it:
Posted on 02/01/2002 5:32:11 AM PST by vannrox
What we need Right NOW!Our Elected Officials need to do their OWN Taxes!VANNROX at BlueBay 02-01-02 I have cracked open my 1040 tax form and started to work on it. I know that the tax forms have been bad in the past. But, honestly, this is the absolute worst tax form that I have ever seen! It is almost as if a legion of demons have crawled up out of Hell and wrote their own twisted kind of sadistic evil mayhem to wreck upon our frail and pitiful lives. Look, I am a degreed Aerospace Engineer, among other things... yes, that is right, I am a Rocket Scientist. And, Even I can't make heads or tails out of this tax code. Not only is it poorly written, and confusing, and horrific, but it is extremely stressful and insulting that Americans have to put up with this kind of nonsense at all. Just in case you might not believe me, or question my integrity in this matter, let me quote from the 'friendly' 1040 form on the subject of an IRA. That's right. Your friendly IRA. That is, it is a Retirement Account that Congress set up to help us save our own money when it became increasingly clear that Social Security would fail to do what it was intended to do. Here is the simple instructions on how the government (Our Government, I might add) wants us to report on our savings to them. Pause. Think about it. We have to report to our government what we saved. So that they can tax it. Because, the Saving Plan that they MADE US PARTICIPATE IN has been found to be insufficient for the job. Lines 15a and 15b IRA Distributions Note. If you converted part or all of an individual retirement arrangement (IRA) to a Roth IRA in 1998 and you chose to report the taxable amount over 4 years, see 1998 Roth IRA Conversions on this page. You should receive a Form 1099-R show- ing the amount of any distribution from your IRA or Coverdell education savings account (ESA). Unless otherwise noted in the line 15a and 15b instructions, an IRA includes a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, simplified em- ployee pension (SEP) IRA, and a savings incentive match plan for employees (SIMPLE) IRA. Except as provided below, leave line 15a blank and enter the total dis- tribution on line 15b. Exception 1. Enter the total distribution on line 15a if you rolled over part or all of the distribution from one: IRA to another IRA of the same type (for example, from one traditional IRA to another traditional IRA), Coverdell ESA to another, or SEP or SIMPLE IRA to a traditional IRA. Also, put "Rollover" next to line 15b. If the total distribution was rolled over, enter zero on line 15b. If the total was not rolled over, enter the part not rolled over on line 15b unless Exception 2 applies to the part not rolled over. If you rolled over the distribution (a) in 2002 or (b) from a conduit IRA into a qual- ified plan, attach a statement explaining what you did. Exception 2. If any of the following apply, enter the total distribution on line 15a and... Ok, that is enough. It only gets worse from then on. Look I understand that many federal Employees are good and hard working people. I also know that there are many treasury employees that are wonderful people. Honestly. I am even related to some. And, I must add, that this comment and flame and rage is not specifically directed at ANY specific employee or to any one in general at the IRS or any other branch of Government. But rather this rage is directed to a system that has gotten out of hand. Again, I am not upset at any employee or the IRS as itself, but rather the system which seems to have broken down. Here is the problem. The IRS simply administers the directions provided to them by Congress. Congress, in turn, creates the laws that we abide by through the need to finance the various Governmental Programs. The Governmental Programs are created to either solve a problem of to enhance the "Public Good". The Problem is not, and I repeat NOT, at the IRS administrative level, but rather at the Congressional Level. All our anger has been and is directed at the IRS, when the real culprit is our own Elected Congress. This Congress not only creates such a convoluted mess of statutes and laws, but also makes it impossible to follow them without aggravation. I can assure you that were these Congressional Individuals personally involved in the actual filing and submittals of their own personal taxes, that this situation would of never have occurred. To this end I can only surmise that our tax laws, as created by Congress, is nothing less than an unbridled Monster. One, who requires such a voracious need for manpower and staffing that our own IRS is overwhelmed by trying to meet the most ridiculous needs of Congress. Indeed. Our tax law is equivalent to a cook who is making a post of soup. heads some salt, but it is not enough, so he adds more, then it just isn't quite right... so he adds pepper. Then oregano, and then some chili powder. But the chilli powder masks the salt so he adds more. Each time he adds, he is unable to remove anything from the soup. Eventually the soup becomes undesirable. But so much time and effort has went into the making of the soup that he is afraid to through it away. That is our Congress. The IRS are the Waiters and Waitresses whom have to take the gruff from the Customers for serving this swill to us. You think it is bad. Wait one or two years down the road. I can't see it getting much worse than this. But, it will. I understand that it will take over ten years to change the culture in the IRS. Well, that's too long. But, at least there is a plan to do something about the "culture" of the IRS. However, that is not where the problem lies. That is only a symptom of a much larger problem. The larger problem is the Congressional uncontrolled spending sprees that we have permitted them to have. The full and utter unaccountability that they have when it comes to creating projects and funding the projects and raising the money for the projects. Congress always seems to raise taxes. They always seem to create new laws. They constantly seem to add and replace and consolidate and build upon. They never look back and reflect. We have a huge monster. This TAX code is worse than horrible. It is worse than evil. This tax code must be scrapped. And, the only way that will happen is to make Congress PERSONALLY responsible for it. Not the IRS. But Congress. For a first step I propose that every Congressman and most especially the SENATORS must do their own taxes, and show us, the people that they have done them. I can assure you that one week of non-stop tax preparation will be enough to cause such a fury for change in Washington that it would rival the eruption of Mount St. Helen in ferocity. Congress needs to be help accountable for this travesty. Thank you for listening to my rant. I am quite confident that others will begin to rant as soon as they start to do their taxes. |
Yes it is. A well written one at that...I hope it stays up.
The moderators should apply this liberally to their trigger fingers before reading it:
And no more capital gains! What's up with that? And no more marriage penalty or death taxes. Wait! Scratch all that. Just implement the Fair Tax plan.
Even Putin has a better tax system that the US. The Ruskies have a flat tax. Our system is third world compared to theirs.
Each and every one of them, live on CSPAM too. And no help allowed.
Personally I gave up a long time ago and just started paying to have my taxes prepared. Because the energy it took to do them myself just wasn't worth it--and because after you've agonized over all this stuff, the best you hope for is that you will never hear another word about it. Not "thank you," not "kiss my foot"--all you hope is that you hear nothing.
1) Make Tax Day the Monday before the General Election.
2) 3 Times yearly, everyone should be paid in full in cash. Then, after collecting their pay,
they need to go to a window and pay out each tax, soc sec, etc.
That'll never happen either, 'cause every pol would be out on their asses.
My clients know that I spend a LOT of money each year just to stay up with all the changes. They also know (because I tell them) that my forte is that I know where to look for the answers to their questions. I do not try to memorize details, because its not worth the effort. You want to know where the 28% bracket ends, and the 31% bracket starts? Beats me...but I know where to find the answer.
From where I sit, it seems like the attitude in Washington is: let's not worry about how much more difficult it is to prepare the return, the programmers at Intuit (TurboTax) will be able to rewrite their program.
There was once a sentiment about Washington, and it put the Republicans in the majority in 1994, and it seemed like such a novel concept: force the elected elites to live under the same laws they have promulgated for us. Not that I want the Democraps to reassume power, but I would like for our Republican friends in the Congress and Senate to return to such an ideal.
I have seen some of our elected officials make an attempt to show how ridiculous our tax code is and on live television at that. However, no progress has ever been made.
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I agree - we need to simplify the tax code/system. A flat tax - a simple 10% across the board is more than fair. Let each person pay his/her own taxes, don't make their employers agents of the federal government.
As an accountant, I can't even fathom the thought that I might have to prepare something other than a 1040A or 1040EZ without a computer program. Change one number on one form and it affects two or three other forms! My fellow accountant worry about what they'll do if the system is simplified - my response is, you'll have a lot more time for anything you want to do from January through April!
It is time for another 94, in 02. On steriods this time and no caving in to the whining anklebiters.
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