Bias disclosure

Since this blog is about tax developments, it will include government news. I hope the reader (if there is a reader out there) will not find it terribly partisan. I don't think of myself as political, as I tend to only read news about the economy and tax policy. (Although I did hear about the swine flu. My bubble is not entirely impermeable.)

Of course, I've got opinions. And I'm usually too quick to share them. In the spirit of full disclosure, I figured I'd share my philosophy on taxes. And I hope that I'm not breaking any copyright laws by stealing the idea from Tax Attorney and CPA Peter Pappas.

• Everyone should pay their taxes. “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” (U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes). “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)


• No one should pay more than they are required. “The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted.” (US Supreme Court, Gregory v. Helvering, 55 S Ct. 266, 1/7/1935)


• Figuring out your taxes shouldn't be so hard. The average taxpayer should be able to figure out their taxes, since the average taxpayer has to pay them.


• Raising taxes won't fix all our problems. If we are to encourage innovation, industry, and entrepreneurship, we must let people keep most of their income.
  

So that's my philosophy in a nutshell.

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