Bend Over. It's Income Tax Time

I'm not the kind of guy who thinks we as individuals shouldn't have to pony up some small fraction of what it costs to maintain the federal government each year. The term “fair share” is bandied about a lot. I'm not sure what constitutes fair share. No one seems to be able pinpoint it. Here's my take: I'm just one person. It would seem to me determining fair share would divide what it costs to run the country by the number of people sharing the protections of the national government, and that would be my fair share. It would be the same from diapers to the grave. Choosing to have a family would put the head of household on the hook for picking up the slack of those in the household too young to work.

Radical; I know. But, apparently, truly fair is a radical concept in our society.

Instead we have a progressive income tax system in which an individual's share is determined by taxing net income. The final income amount can be manipulated by capitalizing on loopholes and deductions within the U.S. tax code that's so thick you could stand on it to change an overhead light bulb. If you are clever, or well off enough to be able to afford someone really clever to put all those loopholes and deductions to good use, you get to pay less. If not, you are left to pay more, but certainly not a fair share.

Of course, the rate at which that net income is taxed is based on an arbitrary sliding scale. The higher the net income, the more tax is paid. In other words, the more successful – as measured by net income – an individual is, the higher rate of tax. Maybe I don't understand what “fair” means. I looked it up in Webster's dictionary. It defined fair as “marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism.” Wait; I did know the definition of fair.

I grapple with this whole income-tax thing about this time every year. Every April I spend two or three hours filling in blanks on some online tax program to come up with what I owe for enjoying the protections of our national government during the previous year. It almost always seems like a lot. It seems excessive. It seems punishing. It never seems to fit within the definition of fair.

My situation is different in many ways from the typical citizen filing a 1040. For one thing, I'm over 66, and treated somewhat differently than a younger person working 8:30 to 5:00. I work for myself, which adds yet another twist to the process. After investing all this time filling out all the required information about my income and expenses, I am usually facing some amount to pay. Sometimes it's a shock and sometimes it isn't. It never seems quite fair.

People receiving a W-2 are in a different boat.

To avoid trying to collect a lump sum from everyone at the end of the year, the federal government forces employers to take money out of a employee's pay every pay period and loan it to them. Every April those employees must go through hours of paperwork to, in effect, petition the government to repay that loan minus whatever tax was owned. The government does so, but without paying any interest on that money. That doesn't seem to quite fit the definition of “fair,” either.

After filing federal taxes for nearly half a century, one thing I do know: There's nothing fair about it.