tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5599486090888825806.post874939112095753838..comments2023-07-17T00:40:42.998-07:00Comments on Athwart History: Doing Your TaxesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13697459748296278957noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5599486090888825806.post-4490665852660456242011-04-08T07:25:51.623-07:002011-04-08T07:25:51.623-07:00How about 20 pages? At least for individuals, not ...How about 20 pages? At least for individuals, not businesses. That way an ordinary citizen can actually have a chance at knowing and understanding it. <br /><br />I'm not sure how my taxes are going to work out....I moved from NJ to Delaware, and work in Maryland. Having our taxes done at H&R Block<br /><br />And as for your Danish friend, I think Europeans are too used to living in their comfortable cages, and letting their government tell them what to do and what to think.Garyhttp://www.comcast.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5599486090888825806.post-41330236004360169852011-03-31T23:30:11.639-07:002011-03-31T23:30:11.639-07:00Thanks for your comment, Eric. Yes, I agree that l...Thanks for your comment, Eric. Yes, I agree that loopholes aren't going away, but I still want to be aware of them. And I think there could be fewer of them. I do think there is a difference between loopholes that anyone can take advantage of, and those that affect a privileged few.<br /><br />One of my "favorites" (meaning least favorites) is the oxymoron Personal Corporation. By incorporating yourself, you can avoid Medicare taxes, which is a pretty nice deal for high earners. And guess who benefits the most from this loophole? Huge surprise: accountants and lawyers!<br /><br />If it were truly up to me we'd seriously redraft our income tax code. But I'd be happy just to see it simplified. I'm fine with resimplifying every 20 years, if that's what it takes. I heard somewhere that the tax code is around 60,000 pages. Couldn't we get that down to, say, 10,000 without doing serious harm to the nation's finances? Maybe even 5,000?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13697459748296278957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5599486090888825806.post-9562920158819764092011-03-31T21:03:19.859-07:002011-03-31T21:03:19.859-07:00Reminds me of my view on tax structure:
'Loop...Reminds me of my view on tax structure:<br /><br />'Loopholes' will be with us forever. What they really are is a method by which government exerts its muscle to create monetary incentives for certain behavior. This represents power, and even if the tax code were wiped clean, we would be right back where we started in 20 years, just with different 'loopholes'. Things that are popular are called deductions, things that are unpopular or benefit a small number of people or companies are called loopholes. Do people who want to wipe the slate clean really want all their tax-advantaged retirement accounts to instantly become taxable? I think not.<br /><br />The other side of the coin which you point to, is that as complexity increases, the number of people aware of those incentives decreases, because people are less willing to wade through the muck. This leads to lower than expected use of tax incentives for lower income or lower educated people. Even those in the middle or upper middle class who might even pay someone to do it for them end up taking advantage of government incentives less because they seldom become aware of the incentives.<br /><br />Personally, I find doing my own taxes works out best because I know what the incentives are, and I can make my own decisions on which ones I will let change my behavior. I don't envy you for doing two different state forms in one year though. My solution? Move to Texas :)Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15462233399643455052noreply@blogger.com