Why Rumsfeld Sends a Letter to IRS Every Year
Havilah Steinman /
That I & most Americans have no idea whether our taxes are accurate tells us something. My annual letter to the #IRS: pic.twitter.com/BFh0AXTvAk
— Donald Rumsfeld (@RumsfeldOffice) April 15, 2014
Every year, Donald Rumsfeld asks the IRS to simplify the tax code.
Rumsfeld, former Secretary of Defense, sends a letter to the IRS annually because “I have absolutely no idea whether our tax returns and our tax payments are accurate.”
“I have sent in our federal income tax and our gift tax returns for 2013,” Rumsfeld wrote in his letter. “As in prior years, it is important for you to know that I have absolutely no idea whether our tax returns and our tax payments are accurate. I say that despite the fact that I am a college graduate and I try hard to make sure our tax returns are accurate.”
Curtis S. Dubay, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Tax and Economic Policy, released an issue brief earlier this month exploring how tax reform could made filing taxes easier:
Since tax reform would make what is taxable—i.e., the tax base—easier to define and would have at most only a few deductions and credits necessary to maintain neutrality, filing taxes annually would be immensely simpler for all families.
There would be no need for pricey software, and only those families with the most complex financial arrangements would require paid tax preparers. Highly skilled lawyers and accountants could put their considerable talents to more productive uses, which would further boost the economy.