By Spin Doctor
What do these people have in common?
Tom Daschle, Former Democratic Senate Leader
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas
Nancy Killefer, Obama’s Chief performance officer nominee
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Dr. and Mrs. Spin Doctor
Answer: They are all honest, highly educated people who have devoted all or parts of their lives to public service and they also once made a mistake on their taxes.
There’s income tax evasion, and then there are honest mistakes. While I don’t subscribe to Veep Biden’s statement that paying my taxes is “patriotic”, in fact, the words “I hate paying taxes” have passed my lips a few times, I accept my responsibility to pay what I owe in full and on time.
A 2008 Taxpayer Attitude Survey conducted by the IRS found that most Americans agree with me—89 percent responded that is it unacceptable to cheat at all on your taxes.
Certainly, the evaders and cheaters should be brought to justice; however, we should not and cannot equate those who make honest mistakes with the bad guys. It’s not the honest people who made a mistake that should be maligned; it is our tax code that is the problem. I am puzzled that conservative commentators have ignored this opportunity to highlight the many problems with our current tax system in favor of pointing and laughing at “another Obama nominee in tax trouble.”
The bottom line is that our tax system is broken because even the most educated and best-resourced among us can’t get our filings right. The impetus is on each of us to not only figure out how much we owe, but also if the government owes us some of own money back. If we fail to the former, then public vilification is due; if we fail the latter, then Uncle Sam keeps your money. How much more broken can you get?
As long as our tax code is a political volley, we all will suffer. Lacking empirical data, political debate consistently centers on asinine discussions such as whether tax cuts for those making less then $200,000 or those making less than $300,000 is the proper route. For years now, Congress has failed to fix the alternative minimum tax until after I had started preparing my taxes. The rules change even when we’re in the middle of the game.
And this is a game that lasts three and half months. That’s more than 100 days each year devoted to tax season--the fruitless enterprise of figuring out how much we owe in taxes or are owed in refunds. After spending hours preparing my tax return, I usually get the feeling of ending up where I started. The time, energy and dollars spent just calculating how to fill in those pesky boxes with the proper numbers could be invested in enterprise, volunteerism or exercise.
One high-profile Administration nominee with a tax problem is an anomaly, but with the series of them we have seen since January, it is time to start looking at the real problem. I’m talking to you U.S. Tax Code.
Today’s guest post is by Spin Doctor, a recovering political junkie, who now removed from the fight, provides insightful perspective on mutually assured political destruction. We look forward to future submissions.
Dr. and Mrs. Spin Doctor
Answer: They are all honest, highly educated people who have devoted all or parts of their lives to public service and they also once made a mistake on their taxes.
There’s income tax evasion, and then there are honest mistakes. While I don’t subscribe to Veep Biden’s statement that paying my taxes is “patriotic”, in fact, the words “I hate paying taxes” have passed my lips a few times, I accept my responsibility to pay what I owe in full and on time.
A 2008 Taxpayer Attitude Survey conducted by the IRS found that most Americans agree with me—89 percent responded that is it unacceptable to cheat at all on your taxes.
Certainly, the evaders and cheaters should be brought to justice; however, we should not and cannot equate those who make honest mistakes with the bad guys. It’s not the honest people who made a mistake that should be maligned; it is our tax code that is the problem. I am puzzled that conservative commentators have ignored this opportunity to highlight the many problems with our current tax system in favor of pointing and laughing at “another Obama nominee in tax trouble.”
The bottom line is that our tax system is broken because even the most educated and best-resourced among us can’t get our filings right. The impetus is on each of us to not only figure out how much we owe, but also if the government owes us some of own money back. If we fail to the former, then public vilification is due; if we fail the latter, then Uncle Sam keeps your money. How much more broken can you get?
As long as our tax code is a political volley, we all will suffer. Lacking empirical data, political debate consistently centers on asinine discussions such as whether tax cuts for those making less then $200,000 or those making less than $300,000 is the proper route. For years now, Congress has failed to fix the alternative minimum tax until after I had started preparing my taxes. The rules change even when we’re in the middle of the game.
And this is a game that lasts three and half months. That’s more than 100 days each year devoted to tax season--the fruitless enterprise of figuring out how much we owe in taxes or are owed in refunds. After spending hours preparing my tax return, I usually get the feeling of ending up where I started. The time, energy and dollars spent just calculating how to fill in those pesky boxes with the proper numbers could be invested in enterprise, volunteerism or exercise.
One high-profile Administration nominee with a tax problem is an anomaly, but with the series of them we have seen since January, it is time to start looking at the real problem. I’m talking to you U.S. Tax Code.
Today’s guest post is by Spin Doctor, a recovering political junkie, who now removed from the fight, provides insightful perspective on mutually assured political destruction. We look forward to future submissions.
Posts
2 comments:
Great post. The blog definately needs a woman's touch.
As for your post, I agree with your assessment of the tax code, I disagree with the sentiment that Tax Cheat Tim Geitner did not know what he was doing. Your mistake, an honest one. His (and probably the others), cheating.
I say welcome to the team.
--G
Good stuff, Spin Doc. As a self-employed consultant with "at home-help," I am constantly baffled at the volume of paperwork and level of effort the filing of my annual and quarterly taxes sap from my productive work and home lives. Instead of spending time with my family, or earning money so I can keep my nanny college student employed, I am on the phone with my accountant, making and taking faxes, conjuring up spreadsheets and breaking pencils. What-EVER. I have a libertarian streak in me, but I remain happy to throw into the kitty. But wouldn’t it be great if we could simplify things a bit? My Catholic conscience sure as hell wouldn't ever permit me to knowingly create my own "NannyGate", but throw sister a bone, people!
And just to back your thoughts a bit further, when I made an error in my return a few years ago, it was my accountant who claimed culpability. That's his job, that's what I pay him for--it wasn't an error to our advantage, but an error nonetheless. Once your financial house and all of the accouterments of life start piling up, it's hard for anyone to keep all of the changes regarding condo depreciation, Goodwill donations, and child-tax credits straight. Ciao, Your ever-obedient, albeit tax-weary, friend
Post a Comment