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Wanted: Your Responses to Tax Survey

Iowa taxpayers are once again in the trenches during tax filing season. Now is a good time to take stock of the confusing pipeline of paperwork and documentation required by the IRS to achieve compliance with the sweeping size and scale of the federal tax code. Many taxpayers say it’s high time to simplify the maze of credits, exemptions, phase-outs and exceptions that make tax compliance too stressful, too burdensome, too costly and too easy for tax cheats to game the system. However, cleaning up the tax code is easier said than done.

The last comprehensive overhaul of the federal tax code was enacted 30 years ago. It required strong bipartisan support in Congress and the influential support of the President to build consensus for reform among the taxpaying public and lawmakers. The good news is that work is getting under way in the 114th Congress to simplify and reform the tax code.

Selected as a co-chair of a working group tasked with presenting concrete recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee, I am looking for specific feedback from Iowans about the IRS and provisions taxpayers would like to keep or eliminate. The central focus of the survey asks for input about specific reforms and tax policy that affect individuals, households and small businesses.

It’s important to hear from as many Iowans as possible. The federal tax code is used as the central vehicle to collect revenue that finances the federal government and pays for public services. It has such a broad impact on the economy and the daily lives of Iowans, influencing home ownership, health care, retirement, higher education, and obviously, take-home pay.

The federal tax collecting agency also bears scrutiny. I’m looking for feedback to help improve its effectiveness and service to the taxpaying public. Messy implementation of the onerous Affordable Care Act continues to vex the administration, the IRS and the American public. The latest shoe to drop affects nearly one million taxpayers. With just eight weeks to go in the tax-filing season, the IRS shipped incorrect tax forms (known as 1095-A) out to 800,000 tax filers who qualified for a subsidy under the new health care law. Now these taxpayers face uncertainty and delay with their tax bills. With so many glitches, delays, extensions, mandates and penalties fogging up the process, taxpayers face even more headaches than usual.

Right around this time of year, many taxpayers may feel like they can relate to a proverb attributed to the prolific Mark Twain. More than a century ago he wrote that, “The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.” I encourage Iowans to get some skin in the game as Congress considers comprehensive tax reform. Let’s make tax season less taxing.

Go to my website at www.grassley.senate.gov and click on the Tax Survey to register your views. The survey is open through Tax Day, April 15. Thank you for participating. Our system of self-government is strengthened by robust citizen engagement and maintaining the integrity of the tax system that pays for it.

Wanted: Your Responses to Tax Survey

Iowa taxpayers are once again in the trenches during tax filing season. Now is a good time to take stock of the confusing pipeline of paperwork and documentation required by the IRS to achieve compliance with the sweeping size and scale of the federal tax code. Many taxpayers say it’s high time to simplify the maze of credits, exemptions, phase-outs and exceptions that make tax compliance too stressful, too burdensome, too costly and too easy for tax cheats to game the system. However, cleaning up the tax code is easier said than done.

The last comprehensive overhaul of the federal tax code was enacted 30 years ago. It required strong bipartisan support in Congress and the influential support of the President to build consensus for reform among the taxpaying public and lawmakers. The good news is that work is getting under way in the 114th Congress to simplify and reform the tax code.

Selected as a co-chair of a working group tasked with presenting concrete recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee, I am looking for specific feedback from Iowans about the IRS and provisions taxpayers would like to keep or eliminate. The central focus of the survey asks for input about specific reforms and tax policy that affect individuals, households and small businesses.

It’s important to hear from as many Iowans as possible. The federal tax code is used as the central vehicle to collect revenue that finances the federal government and pays for public services. It has such a broad impact on the economy and the daily lives of Iowans, influencing home ownership, health care, retirement, higher education, and obviously, take-home pay.

The federal tax collecting agency also bears scrutiny. I’m looking for feedback to help improve its effectiveness and service to the taxpaying public. Messy implementation of the onerous Affordable Care Act continues to vex the administration, the IRS and the American public. The latest shoe to drop affects nearly one million taxpayers. With just eight weeks to go in the tax-filing season, the IRS shipped incorrect tax forms (known as 1095-A) out to 800,000 tax filers who qualified for a subsidy under the new health care law. Now these taxpayers face uncertainty and delay with their tax bills. With so many glitches, delays, extensions, mandates and penalties fogging up the process, taxpayers face even more headaches than usual.

Right around this time of year, many taxpayers may feel like they can relate to a proverb attributed to the prolific Mark Twain. More than a century ago he wrote that, “The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.” I encourage Iowans to get some skin in the game as Congress considers comprehensive tax reform. Let’s make tax season less taxing.

Go to my website at www.grassley.senate.gov and click on the Tax Survey to register your views. The survey is open through Tax Day, April 15. Thank you for participating. Our system of self-government is strengthened by robust citizen engagement and maintaining the integrity of the tax system that pays for it.