21st Century Taxation

This blog by a tax professor is about tax policy and reform and moving tax systems into the 21st century. It focuses on tax system weaknesses, critiques reform proposals (pointing out where they do and do not follow principles of good tax policy and do and do not reflect how we live and do business today), and offers new ideas. Additional information - articles, reports and links, can be found at the 21st Century Taxation website (see link below right). I welcome your comments.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Not Giving Up on Simplification

In mid-November, IRS Commissioner Shulman spoke at the Harvard Kennedy School, mostly about simplifying the tax law. I was struck by how much his words tied to the AICPA Tax Division's simplification policy statement. I have an article on this in the January 2012 AICPA's CPA Advocate. The article is entitled - "Not Giving Up on Simplification." And I hope we don't give up despite the challenges due to a federal tax system that grows in complexity every year.

What do you think?

1 comment:

Kenneth said...: I do believe we need to simplify the tax code. Even Albert Einstein was once quote saying the hardest thing to understand was the US Tax Code. Regards, Ken; January 22, 2012 at 6:55 AM

Welcome!

The world is changing yet tax systems are often slow to change or change in ways that don't align with how we live and work today. This can hinder economic progress, lead to a loss in tax revenue, and frustrate taxpayers. Here, I explain some of the problems at the federal, multistate and California levels, offer ideas for reform, and an opportunity to comment on what I post. My focus is that tax systems should reflect principles of good tax policy and how we live and do business today. I hope to increase awareness and understanding of our tax systems, some of the problems in these systems and possible remedies. These views are my own and not necessarily those of my employer or any organization I'm connected with. Thanks for reading and posting comments (this page gets over 20,000 visits per month)! For more on tax reform, please visit http://www.21stcenturytaxation.com. You can reach me at annette.nellen@sjsu.edu.