Happy April 15th

I had pre-written the following to be posted today:

In celebration of the fifteenth of April, I am writing checks to the Internal Revenue Service totalling over four thousand freaking dollars above and beyond my witholding at work and quarterly estimated payments. I think the best way to achieve tax reform in this country would be to eliminate employer witholding. Make everyone that pays taxes write a single check for the amount they owe. Better yet, move tax day to coincide with election day, and watch a flat tax or national sales tax movement sweep aross the nation.

Since then, I have heard of a better way to ensure tax reform.

Convene a joint session of congress. Make them all sit in the chamber together exactly as they do during the State of the Union Address

Make all 535 members of congress, plus the Supreme Court, do their own tax returns that day. Televised on C-Span. No help. No accountants. No attorneys. No computers. Just eight hours on April 15th, a number two pencil, an IRS instruction guide, and an eraser. Oh, and a rack of IRS forms like you find at the library, in case they screw up and need a new one.

Now that is a program I would tune in to see. I don't care about any of the numbers they write down. I just want to watch them curse, knit their brows, break pencils, and run their fingers throught their hair in exasperation as they navigate the byzantine maze of forms, penalties, deductions, and credits that they have created for us to wade through.