IRS wants to stay in business.

Taxpayers spent more than $90 billion to comply with the tax code in 2002, according to preliminary estimates using IRS data presented on April 11 by Eric Toder of the Urban Institute in Washington. The figure considers the monetary burden of complying plus a monetized time burden of $20 an hour. Under those parameters, the average tax return costs $684, according to Toder, who spoke during a tax reform discussion at the Urban Institute. Both Toder and National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson stressed that while there are monetary and time burdens associated with filing tax returns, the “ritual” should not be abandoned for a returnless system.Taxpayers like to have the experience of looking at what their finances were for the year, Olson said.

Once again, the government is trying to excuse taking your money and forcing you to spend inordinate amounts of time on tax compliance as being "good for you." Please see the complete article.

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