Tax Code Gotcha Down?
Then consider submitting a comment to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.
(Thanks to HRC for their mass e-mail on this.)
The panel is particularly interested in hearing comments on the following topics:
1. Aspects of the tax code that are unfair. (Oh, where to begin? Maybe try and give poor people a break? Stop discriminating against people who can't or don't want to get married? Amend the definition of "spouse" to include same-sex couples?)
2. Goals that the panel should try and achieve. (Hmm. Something modest, like stop pandering to big business?)
3. Unnecessary burden you face because of the tax code's tortured logic. (Like how it doesn't let me deduct medical expenses unless they are more than 7.5% -- a nice, round number -- of my adjusted gross income, whatever that is?)
4. Specific examples of how the tax code distorts important personal/business decisions that you make. (Like, oh, encouraging me to find a nice boy to marry?)
While I have no faith or confidence in the president (sort of like the Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences and President Summers), this seems like a fun exercise. If I were a professor, I'd make it an assignment for my students. What better way to participate in our (ahem) democracy than telling our government what we think? I think that if people interacted with their elected officials more, they might pay more attention to who they elect. For me, at least, the federal government always seems sort of other-worldly. Out there in the distance doing something that I don't quite understand, in a way that seems to have little effect on my life.
Except that it does. All of those bumbling idiots on C-SPAN voting yea or nea in ways that mess up my life and hurt the people and communities I care about. I wish someone would call for a confidence vote in this country because I'm pretty certain that the government -- the whole lot of 'em, Democrats and Republicans -- would lose.
More importantly, I wish that the media would report on a daily basis what happens in Washington. Not the Daily Presidential Photo-Op, but what actually goes on in the House or the Senate or the Supreme Court. What do they do all day? Why don't we spend more time talking about what our government does with its time and precious resources?
While I don't believe that my comments will have any impact on the tax reform, I like writing to the peeps in DC and telling them how much I think they're screwing things up. It does have a little "if a tree falls in a forest" feel to it -- I don't really think anyone's listening -- but then I think about the 4 women from New Jersey who badgered and prodded and begged and pleaded until there was a 9/11 Commission. And I think, maybe, if enough of us do that, things might change.
Email your comments as a Word attachment to comments@taxreformpanel.gov. They're due by 5 pm on March 18, so get writing!
(Thanks to HRC for their mass e-mail on this.)
The panel is particularly interested in hearing comments on the following topics:
1. Aspects of the tax code that are unfair. (Oh, where to begin? Maybe try and give poor people a break? Stop discriminating against people who can't or don't want to get married? Amend the definition of "spouse" to include same-sex couples?)
2. Goals that the panel should try and achieve. (Hmm. Something modest, like stop pandering to big business?)
3. Unnecessary burden you face because of the tax code's tortured logic. (Like how it doesn't let me deduct medical expenses unless they are more than 7.5% -- a nice, round number -- of my adjusted gross income, whatever that is?)
4. Specific examples of how the tax code distorts important personal/business decisions that you make. (Like, oh, encouraging me to find a nice boy to marry?)
While I have no faith or confidence in the president (sort of like the Harvard Faculty of Arts & Sciences and President Summers), this seems like a fun exercise. If I were a professor, I'd make it an assignment for my students. What better way to participate in our (ahem) democracy than telling our government what we think? I think that if people interacted with their elected officials more, they might pay more attention to who they elect. For me, at least, the federal government always seems sort of other-worldly. Out there in the distance doing something that I don't quite understand, in a way that seems to have little effect on my life.
Except that it does. All of those bumbling idiots on C-SPAN voting yea or nea in ways that mess up my life and hurt the people and communities I care about. I wish someone would call for a confidence vote in this country because I'm pretty certain that the government -- the whole lot of 'em, Democrats and Republicans -- would lose.
More importantly, I wish that the media would report on a daily basis what happens in Washington. Not the Daily Presidential Photo-Op, but what actually goes on in the House or the Senate or the Supreme Court. What do they do all day? Why don't we spend more time talking about what our government does with its time and precious resources?
While I don't believe that my comments will have any impact on the tax reform, I like writing to the peeps in DC and telling them how much I think they're screwing things up. It does have a little "if a tree falls in a forest" feel to it -- I don't really think anyone's listening -- but then I think about the 4 women from New Jersey who badgered and prodded and begged and pleaded until there was a 9/11 Commission. And I think, maybe, if enough of us do that, things might change.
Email your comments as a Word attachment to comments@taxreformpanel.gov. They're due by 5 pm on March 18, so get writing!
posted by Me at 11:40 PM
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