Have You Memorized the Entire Tax Law?

Yesterday I received a book in the mail from Commerce Clearing House (CCH), one of the largest tax publishers in the U.S. The book is an analysis of recent 2010 tax laws along with a copy of the actual legislation and the tax writing committee reports. The analysis part is about 500 pages, single spaced, about 11 point type. The part that copies the law is about 9 point type. The complete book is 927 pages. Earlier in 2010, I received a copy of the Health Care Act, which was about 800 pages in size.

Have you read these books? Are you familiar with the changes in the law?

Did you say "Of course not."?

Really! Perhaps you are not aware that you are expected by the IRS and by the courts to able to understand ALL of your obligations under the tax law. It's true. You are. Of course, you can hire a tax professional to help you, but that does not relieve you of the legal duty to be familiar with the full scope of the U.S. tax laws, the related IRS Regulations and rulings, plus any relevant court decisions.

According to www.fourmulab.ch, "... the complete Internal Revenue Code is more than 24 megabytes in length, ... printed 60 lines to the page, it would fill more than 7500 letter-size pages. It contains more than 23,000 cross references to other parts of the tax code or to other parts of the U.S. Code." Based on the printed size of my copy of the tax code, the IRS regulations are about 4 times as large.

It seems to me that we have reached the point where even the brightest tax professionals are unable to understand and advise clients relative to the entire tax law. Like the medical profession, tax professionals have to decide whether to be general practitioners or specialists. Those who choose to be specialists can choose from over two or three dozen major categories of tax law. We have also reached the point where a general practitioner who prepares returns is rarely able to do so without the aid of a computer and tax preparation software.

The tax law has reached the point where it is virtually beyond comprehension. No taxpayer can reasonably be expected to understand the thousands of special rules and exceptions to exceptions. If the taxpayer is unable to understand the law, it is not possible to comply with the law in every respect.

Nonetheless, the Congress continues to add hundreds of new pages to the tax laws every year. At some point more and more taxpayers will decide that the law itself must be scrapped in its entirety and replaced with a totally different kind of tax to provide funds for national defense and other essential services.

Vern
www.offshorepress.com/liberty/