This tax season was painful. I'm self employed with few expenses. I was thinking that next year that I should spend more, but then I realized that it is stupid to spend thousands of dollars on stuff that I don't really need so that I can save hundreds on dollars on taxes.
No matter what tax law they write, there will be unintended consequences. The grand social planners will always say, "But that's not what we wanted the little people to do!"
The only solution is to simplify the code and shrink the bureaucracy. Other than a flat tax (with no exemptions) or a national sales tax (with no fine print), we'll only be trading one mess for another. Anything that allows the social planners to play favorites or endlessly tinker will ultimately become a bloated mess.
Uncertainty about tax law is the bane of business. Every year when I do taxes, I call it going to Vegas. I know I'm going to loose, but I don't know how much until the end.
Any business should make decisions based on what's good for the real business, rather than what's good for the tax code.
A simple tax code with a minimal bureaucracy that stays simple will free up so much time, money, and resources that growth would be immediate and sustaining.
Really? Self employment opens up a bevy of opportunities. Did you make use of a sec 105 plan to cover all your medical insurance and medical expenses? How about a one person 401K?
While I agree that spending $100 just to save $40 in taxes is stoopid, there are ways to legally and legitimately minimize the bill.