Clearing The Tax Thicket
Posted: November 10, 2009 at 3:50 a.m.
SPRINGDALE — Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (www.aradvocates.org) say that confusion about of the federal tax code among the poor is rampant. This leads to exploitation by some tax preparation companies and predatory lenders.
We could not agree more.
The Advocates go on to ask for laws against unethical tax preparers banning exorbitant fees on loans to be paid off with income tax refunds, paid advertising for state and non-profit help on tax preparation and expansion of other, various programs.
We searched in vain, however, for the Advocates’ recently released study to address what we believe to be the real problem: An absurdly complex federal tax code.
For instance, there was a bill in Congress in recent years to allow the Internal Revenue Service to print out a completed tax return for many of the filers of simpler forms. The pre-printed forms would have all the earnings and withholdings numbers available. These numbers go into W-2 forms, after all. If the taxpayer had some serious change in circumstances, such as the birth of a child or purchase of a home, he could simply throw the form away. If not, however, he merely had to sign and return it.
The private tax preparation lobby killed the bill.
The rich and the middle class are not the only ones who need tax relief. We submit that the Advocates’ announcement shows that the poor, too, are overtaxed. We also submit that when people who are fully eligible for the earned income tax credit need the help of professionals to file their taxes, things have clearly gone beyond absurdity.
Clearing the federal income tax thicket is in the interest of all. We encourage the Advocates to join conservatives and call for this.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 11/10/2009
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