Reason #50: The Uncrackable Tax Code

Have you ever asked yourself why our national tax laws are called the tax “code”? Maybe it’s because you’ve got to be cryptologist, or code-breaker, just to understand it. Back in 1913, when the individual income tax was set up, the “code” consisted of a fourteen-page law and a three-page form. Now, it weighs in at a staggering 55,000 pages.

George W. Bush talked about being a tax reformer and lowering taxes. But between 2001 and 2002, the tax code grew almost 15 percent on his watch, from 45,562 to 52,310 pages. The only other time the code grew that much was during Roosevelt’s New Deal.

We like to consider our tax structure progressive, meaning the rich pay a larger percentage of their income than the poor. And on the surface, nominal tax rates are lower for people who make less money. But all that complexity in our tax laws means that only the richest among us can afford to pay for someone to “decode” them.

Consider this: In 2006, the government collected more than a trillion dollars in individual income taxes. Corporations paid a little more than a third of that amount, despite record profits for many of them and the meteoric rise of the stock market. According to a recent government study, two-thirds of U.S. corporations and foreign corporations doing business in our country paid no federal income tax at all. Does that seem fair to you?

NEXT: Reason #51: Lies, Damn Lies, and Government Statistics