As I begin the annual statutory ritual of preparing my income taxes, it is my wish this winter day that senators and congressmen be required by law to prepare their own income tax filings. No third-party assistance, no software programs, just plain old pen-and-paper, grind-it-out tax preparation. It seems absurd to me that preparing taxes has gotten so complicated that honest, hardworking citizens need to spend so much time, work so hard or pay someone else to file their taxes. It really is insult to injury. If legislators who continually tweak the tax code were required by law to file their own income taxes, certifying that they and they alone prepared the filing using only instructions and guides published by the IRS, I believe we would be well on our way toward tax simplification.
