4/18/17 – Tax Day

Another Tax Day is over. Paying taxes can be a complex and frustrating process.

Here’s what’s happening behind the headlines.

The federal tax code is nearly 80,000 pages long. If stacked, it would reach more than 25 feet high.

Nearly one-half of Americans have no federal income tax liability. Half of us are paying for everyone else.

It gets worse.

Due to various income tax credits, millions who pay nothing in taxes actually get money from the federal government.  For them, April 15th isn’t Tax Day — it’s Pay Day.

Somewhere, Karl Marx is smiling.

According to IRS records, federal workers owe more than 3.5 billion dollars in unpaid taxes.  And they can’t be fired for it.

According to George Mason University, it costs the public about 380 billion dollars annually to comply with the federal tax code. This is one billion dollars lost each day by millions of people and businesses.

On top of that, the IRS may be far from squeaky clean.  It’s well-documented IRS employees have targeted groups and individuals for political purposes.

Such antics have brought on Congressional investigations and private lawsuits.

There should be a complete overhaul of the IRS and the federal tax code.

Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter at @BehindTheHead.


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