Slime

The cost of complying with our grotesquely bloated tax code is measured in so much more than dollars and cents. For example, there are the homeless people who need the powers of Wonk the Plank just to figure out their tax returns.

Then there are people who are almost paralyzed by the fear of doing something improper on their tax returns, like a woman we assisted recently. She had worked briefly as an independent contractor and was absolutely, 100% entitled to deduct her business expenses, meager though they were.

But Wonk the Plank really had to coax her into doing it. There’s a whole culture of sliminess associated with preparing business tax returns, which are full of greasy gray areas where exaggerations and out and out lies will go undetected. Our taxpayer thought at first that it would be better to bypass the whole sordid mess, pay higher taxes, and wash her hands of the affair.

Instead of shoveling out ever more regulations to intimidate people like Wonk the Plank’s taxpayer, how about a simple, transparent tax system so people can pay their fair share and still get to sleep at night?

Is This A Great Country Or What?

Once in a while, Wonk the Plank lurks the tax forum on Craiglist and lets the bizarre questions and answers just wash over us like a cool rain. We watch as 4-5 posters provide answers (often contradictory) and, for the easier questions that we are familiar with, pick out the right answers. Sometimes we will even be able to recognize the grain of truth in an otherwise garbled answer…

This is how most of us get information about taxes: asking friends, neighbors and – if we get desperate enough – perfect strangers on the internet to help us understand the tax rules. Since no transparent and understandable set of tax rules exists, information is passed down from the high priests of tax law to the taxpaying proletariat in a bizarre game of telephone.

Today, while Wonk the Plank was out preparing taxes at the MLK library, a homeless man stumped us, asking why he didn’t get the $300 rebate credit included in his 2008 tax return. (The rebate recovery credit is given to anyone who somehow didn’t qualify for a stimulus check in 2007 that was eligible in 2008 instead.)

Wonk the Plank’s taxpayer had only a little more than $500 in annual income, so he didn’t meet the $3,000 minimum test, making him ineligible for either 2007 or 2008. It took Wonk the Plank (with several years of experience doing returns) about 15 minutes of research to figure out that this was so.

When a homeless man with $500 in annual income can’t understand his tax situation without help, the tax system is pretty effed up.