Actually you are making my point, that there are exceptions, but the vast majority of folks in the US use a 1040. You live overseas and deal with foreign currency. That’s not the majority of folks. That is an exception, rather than the rule.
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Was your conflation of feminism and Naziism really necessary on a post related to neither?
He has a point, tho. The tax code is horribly complex, and is designed to favor wealthy special interests with lots of money for accountants rather than the general public. Get rid of all the deductions, get rid of different ‘kinds’ of income (e.g. wage vs cap gains vs carried interest). Close the loopholes (even the sacred cows of mortgage interest).
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One thing the UK tax office has right is the ease of on-line filing and calculation, no software needed, no accountant needed. Of course only a very small percentage of the population need to file anyway as income taxes are deduced at source - so only those who have alternative income (self employed, business owners, etc) need to file at all.
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Have you actually looked at the 1040 instructions?
Do you have any small investments, say bitcoin or stock in Google? Did you make any interest in savings accounts, or get an education? Did you make over $600 on the side, acting as a self-employed business person? Do you know all the forms to fill out? You don’t even need to touch deductions to get really complicated.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Forms-and-Schedules-for-Form-1040
Sure, things can be simple when you use Turbo Tax or an accountant. I recall an article describing something like 65% of people thought filing their taxes was easy. About 47% of people used accountants. Another 43% or so used special software, like Turbo Tax. Some 3% didn’t even know what was going on. The equivalent is kind of like saying having a formal dining experience is easy when you go to a restaurant and all the work is done by a 3rd party.
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Yeah, still disagreeing with you. So I live in my foreign country, and I have US investments. From their perspective it’s foreign currency. So why is my tax package there still only 2 pages long with gigantic font in comparison to the US package of 60 pages of tiny font? I definitely don’t file special reports with a criminal prosecution department in the foreign country. Only the US is asshole enough to demand this.
It’s because our tax law is fucked up and defended by apologists.
I don’t have kids, no house, no actual deductions. So why is is it so complicated?
Regarding TurboTax, check this: https://www.propublica.org/article/turbotax-maker-linked-to-grassroots-campaign-against-free-simple-tax-filing/
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“…I know that I cannot have any confidence that I know what is being requested and therefore I cannot and do not know, and I suspect a great many Americans cannot know, whether or not their tax returns are accurate.”
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”
Rumsfeld’s Talking Point.
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Me, too.
FTFY. Gotta fill up the coffers for the kiddies, don’tcha know.
Good flagging today, sorry it took us a while to hit them.
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I’m not sure that I believe him when he says he’s unsure. I think we should waterboard him for a bit, just to see if maybe he knows more than he is letting on. You know, just to be safe.
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Why give Rumsfeld any press at all?
He has a point in this case but the problems with our tax code are well known and not entirely the fault of the IRS. His letter accomplishes nothing except to perhaps ingratiate himself with those who agree with him.
If anything, you do him a service by re-publishing this.
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Rummy’s real talent is the ability to tell others that he is an idiot in the most intelligent-sounding way possible.
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Pretty sure the Bush administration used possible weapons of mass destruction as the “reason for aggression”.
My comment about “so many people” implied that most nation states have several bureaucrats and diplomats who have engaged in similar activity. Your demonization of one individual is unwarranted. This isn’t IG Farben, this a guy who at his worst you accuse of encouraging an illegal war and allowing illegal interrogation. Just encouraging some limiting of accusations and insults to the realm of reality.
Yes, and one type of those are chemical and biological weapons. The US, represented by special envoy Donald Rumsfeld, was selling Iraq material used to create those at a time when it knew it was constantly using them against Iran; see for instance here, here, here, all sorts more you can search. Rumsfeld then mentioned those exact same uses to justify their own invasion, so just as @AcerPlatanoides said.
Nobody is claiming he’s the worst war criminal in all history, but you’re alone if you think that proves he’s not one. What do you think a war crime is? It basically comes down to breaking the laws concerning war, for instance the type of illegal interrogation known less euphemistically as torture. Maybe you’re arguing that because he didn’t do it all himself, he should really be called a war crime enthusiast instead, but it’s not like he wasn’t making decisions behind them.
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The truly infuriating thing about TurboTax is that they’ve successfully lobbied the Federal Government to keep the IRS from implementing a free, easy-to-use way to file taxes online. Think about it: if TurboTax can write software to do it, why can’t the Feds? It would save the IRS boatloads of money if they didn’t have to process all those paper returns. It would be a win for everyone… except the for-profit outfits which get to sell you a new copy of their software every year.
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Oh, is THAT all.
“Let he who has not tossed aside the Geneva Conventions cast the first stone,” right?
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He’s Reagan’d out, man. 
This is the real take-away here; he’s making sure his ass is covered if his tax return is audited. Besides all the other good points that’ve been made in the comments – the ease of the 1040, the fact that he was at the center of the government for years, etc. – this cowardly cya letter tells you all you need to know about his character.
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It’s amazing to look at the differences between the IRS and many state tax boards.
In California, you can do your individual income tax online, with the FTB directly, for free. For companies paying employment taxes, you can go to a state website, enter in some data, and pay and file online in a few minutes. It seems to be like this for most tax matters.
For the IRS, they can’t let you file electronically directly with them, because that wouldn’t allow companies to charge for the service. So you have to file through a private company, most of which seem very sketchy. If you file on paper, certainly, then you can do it without paying a middleman for what should be provided by the government, but then you’re still stuck with the absurd complexity of the tax code.
What do you mean by “use a 1040”? A 2013 1040 is a form with 77 lines on it. At least 35 of those lines often require separate forms to be attached or filled out. Several of those separate forms have lines that require further forms be attached. Many of the items are ambiguous and unclear.
It’s worth noting that this is even worse for corporate tax filings, where some of the items are almost entirely subjective; even the IRS admits that they’re open to interpretation, just saying that the company needs to calculate them consistently.
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