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.
