The Income Tax System is a Mess

So I recently filed my income taxes online like I do every year. It's a bit early, but I had all the documents and some free time so I did it.

The thing is, the system is so complex and ridiculous. Using an online form is not difficult because you just plug in your numbers, but what is ridiculous is all the deductions and exceptions that are involved. There is so much room for error and estimation. Heck, you can't even put in exact numbers to the cent; they make you round it to the nearest dollar.

Here is a question. Why don't employers submit their employee's earnings? This would be direct and most logical. Instead they send a form to the employee and then they have to report their own earnings. I'm not objecting to the effort it takes to report your earnings, I just don't see why they are leaving it up to the employee. It's like adding an extra step that is unnecessary.

I understand that if you are self employed, you would have to report your own earnings, but if you work for a company, they should report it for you.

Well you ask, what about all the other stuff you have to include like deductions? Here's the thing, there shouldn't be deductions. Income tax should be solely a percent taken from the amount you earn in a year. Simple as that. Take how ever much you earn and pay the established percentage in the form of tax.

Like I said before, it is ridiculous how many options and exceptions there are that will alter how much you have to pay on taxes. It's so inexact. Some people are going to end up paying more than they should because they don't know which deductions they can take, and others who know a lot about it are probably going to end up paying less than they should. And there is no way the IRS can monitor all these hundreds of options and elements that make up the tax forms because there are so many. Yes they can do thorough checks with audits, but if they can't do thorough checks on every submission, well then it is just not good enough. That is why the system has to change.

The income tax system needs to get a lot more streamlined and simple. Get rid of all the hundreds of deductions. Get rid of all these odd exceptions and alterations. Set the percent that must be paid and then take that percent from however much the individual has earned. Why does it have to be more complicated than that?

Taxes, Returns and Deductions - Income Tax Reform Needed

So I just filed my 2009 income taxes. I did it myself online with one of the free services through the IRS. Overall it went pretty smooth but I didn't get back as much as I would have liked. I ended up owing the state a little which is annoying.

One of my main points to address in this article is how I think the tax system really needs to be changed. I understand income tax. But what I don't like is all these hundreds of tax deductions. It makes the system very complicated and leaves a lot of room for error. I don't understand why they have tax deductions in the 1st place.

There needs to be a better way to keep track of people's income and the taxes that are deducted from it. I don't see why they are leaving it up to individuals to report it. That is not good enough. I think it should be deducted and reported by the employer. But what about people that make their own money and have their own business? I guess they have to report their own.

Going through the filing process I just think there are way to many options and steps to consider when filing your taxes. It needs to be much more streamlined and accurate. It should just be, how much did you make and how much do you owe, simple as that. Maybe I don't know enough about the topic of taxes, but those are just some of my thoughts.