NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVOCATE ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen has issued her annual report to Congress.

In the report Nina tells us –

“The most serious problem facing U.S. taxpayers is the combination of the IRS’s expanding workload and the limited resources available to the IRS to handle it.”

The idiots in Congress continue to make the Tax Code more complicated, but do not provide the Service with the funds to deal with the mucking fess they create.

Her Legislative Recommendations include the usual (included each year) - Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals and Simplify the Tax Code.

Under Simplify the Tax Code she says -

“The Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2011 {S. 727, 112th Cong. (2011)} generally incorporates many of these recommendations. The bill would combine current education-related tax credits and deductions into a single tax credit for all education expenses, including tuition, fees, and student loan interest. It would consolidate retirement savings plans into one category.  It would eliminate many sunsets created by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 by permanently repealing phase-out provisions for the EITC, the dependent care credit, the child tax credit, personal exemptions, and limitations on itemized deductions. It would further simplify the tax code by reducing the number of tax preferences. In addition to general simplification provisions, the bill would make the return filing process easier for taxpayers by providing any taxpayer, upon request, with a simplified pre-prepared tax return based on the information the IRS has received from third parties. Taxpayers also would receive a one-page summary showing how the most recently available fiscal year’s revenue was spent.”

This is the first I have heard about this proposed Act.  Here is what I found about it on the website of bill sponsor Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon -

“For individuals: Wyden-Coats reduces the number of individual tax brackets from the current six to three: 15 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent and eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax completely.  Middle-class and low-income taxpayers will benefit from Wyden-Coats’ near tripling of the standard tax deduction, which will not only reduce tax bills but relieve Americans of the stress and responsibility of maintaining the records and receipts needed to document itemized deductions. These simplifications alone will make it possible for most taxpayers to file a simple one-page 1040 form that most Americans will be able to fill out in less than an hour.  Moreover, by eliminating tax breaks and loopholes that allow some Americans to pay less than others, Wyden-Coats is able to hold down rates for everyone.  According to the Tax Policy Center, most families making up to $200,000 a year will pay the same or less in taxes under Wyden-Coats than they do today.”

Click here for more information on the bill.

Don’t expect the idiots in Congress to act on this report any time soon.

TTFN