Income Tax System Confounds Taxpayers and Hurts the Economy

With the possible exception of some key Obama administration officials, millions of Americans are preparing to file their federal tax returns in the coming week.

FairTax.org says Americans spend $300 billion a year for help in preparing their tax returns.

From of Ken Hoagland, national communications director of FairTax.org:

Our income tax system is so complicated that both the Chairman of the Congressional Committee that writes tax laws and the man who oversees the IRS as Secretary of the Treasury claimed ignorance when their own underpaid taxes were revealed. It might be true. Millions of other taxpayers become victims of overly complex and all but indecipherable rules and regulations every year. Even the IRS won't promise that the tax advice it gives can be counted on if an audit occurs.

Collectively, we will spend just about twice as much on tax preparations this year as the cost of last year's economic stimulus rebate checks. We will spend more hours filling out tax forms than all the hours spent building American cars -- in Detroit's best year. $300 billion is thrown away annually on government created complexity because citizens find it almost impossible to understand 67,500 pages of tax regulations without expert help.

Read the full release by FairTax.org at the link below:

Income Tax System Confounds Taxpayers and Hurts the Economy