People without original thoughts in their heads tend to think that the status quo is the only way to do things. They are incapable of actual thought, so they just accept whatever is happening around them as the best solution. Baby brains don't work very well.

I consider the way we handle income tax a very poor and needlessly complicated system. I think it was a bad idea from the start and really needs to be trashed.

In the early days of our country (America) people didn't keep receipts to prove their charitable contributions, nor did they lie about them. They didn't have to jump through all the foolish hoops that we now have to jump through, to get our taxes done.

You wanted to buy something, you paid tax along with your purchase. Perhaps they had an additional tax on something not at all hard to figure out, like the amount of land you owned or something. Done. The end.

As for keeping meticulous records of this and that, come on, cut it out. It's ridiculous. The whole concept of income tax is ridiculous. It doesn't even serve to tax rich people more heavily than poor people like me. The ultra rich often don't pay one penny in tax, for one reason or another. They pay their lawyers and accountants but not their country. And even if you don't make that case, it is still an onerous and needlessly complicated system.

Things will not get simpler. I guarantee it. I'm in the pension business. The government frequently makes noise about simplifying things. Reagan and Bush II both made noise in that direction, that things would be simplified. Bull. Take it from one who knows, the pension biz has gotten unbelievably and stupidly complicated. Don't get me started. With the PPA and the DREC and the cross testing and the comparability plans and the rest, it is a very deep pile of horseshit.

The main reason I resent having to hassle with my taxes every year is because I know the whole system is so fucken stupid. It was concocted by a bunch of idiot savants like the Dustin Hoffman character in Rain Man.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.