patrick.net

Government is powered by taxes, and the more we know about who pays and who doesn't, the better we understand how government works and what it really costs. When taxes are calculated on the dining room table with much sweating, cursing and irritation, we at least partake in the system; the usual distance between government and the governed disappears.

Do your taxes using a computer program and you may not notice that medical bills equal to 7.4 percent (or less) of your gross adjusted income are not deductible - you need to be sicker to get write-offs. Given that we live longer, isn't it time we reserved an extra write-off for those age 75 rather than comparative youths who have just turned 65? Why are there special write-offs for farmers, day-care providers and the clergy - but not for nurses or ambulance drivers? Who do you really need if your appendix bursts?

The issue is not so much that such limitations exist; rather it is the fuzzy process that produces them, the evidence of who has political power and who doesn't.

Great industries have been created from single and obscure paragraphs hidden within the tax code, a body of rules so complex no one fully understands what's been written or why. Truth is, automating returns undermines the common good. Rather than speed and efficiency, perhaps we need a tax system that makes citizens ask tough questions and causes political leaders to squirm every time they spend our dollars.

http://www.ourbroker.com/news/april-15th-the-right-way-to-figure-taxes/#axzz1IrgRHcUf