The Income Tax as Zen Patriotism

How do I hate the income tax?

Let me count the ways.

When I ran a small business, as I did for 27 years, it took me about 20 years to get organized collecting, keeping track of the multiplicity of sources of income. I had no training as an accountant, and for many of those years there was no software, so I had a system of envelops and I tried to keep tract of 1099 forms, but I was forever chasing down various bank account statements, trying not to miss an interest payment which would mean I'd failed to report income, the big crime in the eyes of the IRS.

I needed several bank accounts: One for the income from my primary business, one for keeping money set aside to pay estimated income taxes, another for my wife's job's income, another for my personal expenses which were unrelated to business expenses. A junior CPA at my accountant's office told me, "Oh, the IRS is going to hang you. It looks like you are shuffling money between accounts to avoid reporting income." But I get statements on all the accounts and they are all in the same bank," I objected. Oh, it looks bad, she said.

Sure enough I got audited many times.

Usually, I got audited because the IRS didn't understand that the 1099 forms were part of what I was reporting as business income, not separate earnings.

I had other sources of income than from my primary business, like from writing articles for magazines or book advances, and I didn't want to mix that income with the income from the primary business income, so there was a separate bank account for that.

The other interesting thing about being self employed is you pay a self employment tax.What is that all about? What it felt like is the IRS and the government saying, "If you are self employed you must be cheating."

I also paid something called the Minimal Alternative Tax.
Ultimately, I got a good accountant, who helped me keep things straight and things settled down.

But every year, I reached April 15th feeling pretty good only to see my accounts wiped clean: Paying estimated income taxes, 1040 taxes and retirement (SEP contributions.)

Decision after decision was based on what it did to my taxes.

Every scrap of receipt got kept, filed to prove I had spent a particular dollar on a legitimate business expense.

And no matter how scrupulously I tried to play the game, I was felt guilty, like some sort of involuntary criminal. I could never keep up with all the rules and with all the changes in the rules.

And I believe paying my taxes is the only meaningful patriotic act left to me as an average citizen.

I hate the income tax.

It feels intrusive. The government looks at all my expenses, all my sources of income. What else is there I can hold private? And they strip all that away.

They know what I pay for my car, what I paid for the hotel at the convention.

Of course, I tell them this because I want them to give me credit for all that as a business expense. I don't have to tell them.

I hate the income tax and all the reporting, and all the record keeping.

I'd much rather pay a big tax when I buy something.

That way, I feel as if I want that new car, well I have to pay for it. I don't have to buy that car. But I have to earn a living.

Rationally, I know a progressive income tax is better social policy. The poor, who are less able to pay, pay way less than the rich.

But I hate the income tax.

Actually, I hate it a lot less now that I'm an employee. I love the W-2. With deductions taken out automatically, the pain is gone.

Having said all this, I still think it's an anathema to allow the Repulbicants blackmail every candidate into pledging never to allow an income tax.

Because it never stops with the income tax. Why not have them pledge to not allow abortions, contraception, gay marriage, increases in property tax? Pretty soon you have a robo candidate, who has signed up for all the pledges, and can only sign ten sorts of bills into law.

And, once you have signed enough pledges, you have given away your ability to negotiate with the legislature, if you are running for governor.

Well, she has signed off on the income tax, and she can't increase property taxes this year. So now we've got her.

Bad idea.