Yesterday I mentioned the growing complexity of our current income tax code.
Here's a graph that shows how IRS Form 1040 has 'evolved' over the past 75 years. (Click to embiggen)
Back in 1940, the 1040 form had only two pages of instructions -- pretty manageable, even with the small type. But you'd have to wade through 207 pages of instructions to fully understand the 2013 form.
This complexity would be laughable if it didn't directly impact the lives of every man, woman and child in America every single year. Congress has flirted with major overhauls to the tax code for years now, but it continually gets hung up on intractable partisan differences. Maybe this year will be the year for reform, though?
Don't hold your breath.
Maybe that's why my head hurts today. Too much complexity...
2 comments:
Reform? And give up a control mechanism decades in the making? Not happening.
Tax talk makes my eyes roll back in my head. So, I married an accountant and let him take care of everything, but I do work at listening to his tax talk.
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