Invisible wrote:
> No no - *everybody* gets confused as hell by taxes. ;-)
> 
> [Why do they make them so complicated? Is it a conspiracy to ensure you 
> get them wrong and hand over more money than you're supposed to??]


It's a matter of policy, actually.

The tax code in the US has been, unfortunately, chosen as politicians' 
favorite way of rewarding certain activities and industries.  Any time 
they want to encourage particular behaviors by people or corporations, 
they add a new rule to the tax code.  Things like,

1) We want people to invest in energy production, so returns on energy 
investments are taxed at a much lower rate than other investments.

2) We want people to save for retirement, so we'll allow a certain class 
of savings accounts that have tax-free growth.

3) We want people to give money to charity, so we'll allow them to 
deduct up to a certain amount from their tax liability when they donate 
that same amount to qualifying charities.

Now, when you consider that politicians have been doing this for more 
than one hundred years, you begin to get an idea about how complicated 
the tax code currently is.

The problem, of course, is that the tax system is now being used for 
something entirely unintended.  What it is meant for is to fund the 
Federal Government.  What it is being used for is social reform.

...Chambers

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