Taxpayer Advocate's Annual Report to Congress

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/01/taxpayer-advocate-annual-report-to-congress

The annual report to Congress by the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olson, is worth a look:

taxpayers and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements. To place this in context, it would require more than three million full-time employees to work 6.1 billion hours, making "tax compliance" one of the largest industries in the United States.

She also signs on to the argument I made in the post on "Tax Reform and Deficits," that, as I put it, "there's a danger inherent in mixing up tax reform and deficit reduction....mixing up tax reform with a government grab for even more revenue risks giving tax reform a bad name by associating it with tax increases, which are unpopular."

She writes:

The question of whether and to what extent to raise revenue is extremely contentious, and we are concerned if structural tax reform and revenue levels are considered together as a package, the debate over revenue levels could overshadow and derail meaningful tax reform. Therefore, we suggest that Congress consider addressing these issues separately. First, Congress could enact structural tax reform on a revenue-neutral basis. Second, Congress could decide on appropriate revenue levels and adjust the tax rates accordingly.

Here's the press release, here's the executive summary, and here's the full report.

by Ira Stoll  |  Jan 6, 2011 at 10:33 am Related Topics:  Taxes receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list