Tax Tyranny

It’s April 15: national lawbreaker day. Everyone could be a criminal on tax day because of the sheer size and complexity of the federal tax code. At more than 9 million words and growing, the tax code is a leviathan of potholes, pitfalls and disasters waiting to happen. Special interests have long fed at the tax code trough, getting clever exclusions and deductions added to the code while you and I break pencils worrying about if those late-night copies constitute a business expense or whether mileage can be deducted from our taxes. Who knows? Unless you like pouring over indecipherable tax forms, instruction booklets and the attendant guide books published by the tax consulting industry, you will probably never know for sure if you’ve paid the right amount this year. You might just be a felon.