Now that Christmas is over, I can go on being slightly less miserable. Wednesday night held an impromptu trip to one of the few open restaurants around, 20 minutes north of the Fields. The others were jammed with cars of what I assume to be early travelers or people trying to escape from their relatives. I had some beer in front of a searing HVAC vent while watching the Americans trounce the Canadians 5 to 1 in hockey. Yeah, that was amusing.
I also happened to have light conversation with a man from the California/Oregon area. He was a happy fellow, touting the virtues of craft beer his employer sold down the road. I welcomed the conversation though. He was enthusiastic to escape his roommate’s family, and I was fond of discussing something that didn’t involve reminiscing about family affairs before I was born. Christmas Eve dinner is really for my parents and their siblings. It’s a stale situation for the likes of me.
January’s fast approaching, and aside from getting another year older, it’s going to herald reporting season with the various Federal, state, and local governments. I’ll churn out more paperwork than I do in six months to appease the self-righteous bureaucrats who think preparing even more will do a world of good. It won’t though. Cheater’s gonna cheat.
No apologies here, as an accountant, the Internal Revenue Code needs an overhaul. Expecting people to file their own taxes appropriately has produced abysmal results. The filer is so overwhelmed, they don’t care how it gets done as long as the government agencies are happy. They are absolutely lost when it comes to reading their own 1040. Been there, done that. The individual shouldn’t have to purchase software or go to an HR Block-type establishment to complete this. This tax code is getting too complicated for its own good. Just set a tax rate, have the employer send a reconciliation to the IRS, and be done with it.
Corvidae in the Fields 
I hear very frightening things of American Tax rules and laws….enough to never want to work in the States:)
You’re better off that way, Roger. Proper reporting includes being threatened six ways ’til Sunday with penalties and interest for improper preparation. The Internal Revenue Code would also smart very much, if I were to drop it on someone’s foot.
Arrgghh…I just got my tax bill from last year paid off!
I’ve often wondered if starting taxes on a taxable income of $50,000 or more would clear up the utter chaos that befalls the small-time filer. With that low of an income the filer could make better use of the money than the Feds throwing it at another defense contractor, or the filer wouldn’t have to come up with the cash in the first place. It really gets a feel of indentured servitude, when you have to collect money to pay off the Feds.
Our tax system is ridiculous. I quit public accounting because I couldn’t make money off a system that is so broken. I won’t hold my breath for an overhaul, though, unless it is to make it even more complicated.
I think the big problem is accountants are the lackeys when it comes to policy making. We have politicians (*cough* *cough* Mike Oxley *cough* *cough*) thinking their grandiose ideas should be carried out because they’re just so wonderful. Do you know what Mike’s doing now? He’s a flippin’ hedge fund manager in New York!
1099-MISCs are being leaned on heavily this year, because the IRS is whining about areas “rife with fraud.” Well, if they didn’t make the rules so damned complicated, I think more people would be willing to prepare them. I’m looking over my shoulder every year wondering if I made the determinations right. It’s almost as convoluted as use tax determination.