Equal challenges are posed by the Bernard Madoff situation. While Madoff-related losses may look like capital losses (ordinary taxpayers are limited to capital losses of $3,000 per year), most victims will see their losses as theft. Further complications abound, but I am cheered (in a way) to note that one of Madoff’s victims was Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. Just a guess, but with a Madoff victim being a senior senator in the majority party in New Jersey, I rather assume regulations will be promulgated to give the victim relief.
One is left to ask the question: If a former majority leader of the United States Senate and member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and a former chair of the New York Fed and current treasury secretary cannot accurately calculate their taxes, can’t we all agree that the system is too complicated and needs radical reform?
And to help in that reform process, let me outline my simple proposition. First, to increase tax collections and to make sure that everyone pays the taxes they owe (and any back taxes), you could just nominate every taxpayer for a cabinet position. Failing that, let’s have a statutory requirement that all cabinet appointees, all members of the House and Senate, the president and vice president, and all comparable individuals at the state level must swear under oath that they have filled out their own tax returns without seeking outside help. Nothing would simplify our tax code and make it fair and equally applied more than that simple legal requirement.
Sincerely Yours,
Vance K. Opperman
A Frustrated Taxpayer
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