The idiotic bureaucracy of the tax code.

[bnhcomputing]

$4,000 in fines because she didn't owe, and thus didn't file, income tax?

LOVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- A woman who hasn't paid a $1.16 income tax bill to this Cincinnati suburb faces a stiff penalty - up to 18 months in jail and $4,000 in fines.
City officials say Deborah Combs hasn't filed city income tax returns for five years. Combs says she has been mostly unemployed since 2000 and didn't realize she had to file the returns until the city notified her in February about the violation.
By that time, Combs owed $200 in late fees - $50 for each year she didn't file a return.
"I don't know how they could charge me the fees if I didn't owe anything," Combs said.

Loveland officials say everyone is required to file an annual return, regardless of income level.
"This is a flagrant offender," said City Manager Frederick Enderle. "She's been given ample opportunity and ample warning to file those returns and she chose to ignore them."
Combs agreed to a tax liability for $1.16 for 2003, but she hasn't been able to pay the late fees, she said. She was charged with four first-degree misdemeanors and has an Oct. 20 hearing in Loveland Mayor's Court.

GIVE ME A BREAK

[NCOutdoors]

That city manager is going to get strung up.

We need to toss the current income tax system and go with the Fair Tax. It is the most fair and the only real reform that is out there.

[Tazman]

We need to toss the current income tax system and go with the Fair Tax. It is the most fair and the only real reform that is out there.

Is Fair Tax the same as Flat Tax?

[gonzodemon]

if you dont owe any money why should you have to write them and tell them that you dont owe them anything. imagine if we had to write everyone a letter or fill out forms to tell everyone that we dont owe them money. what is the idiotic logic behinde thistax law.

[NCOutdoors]

We need to toss the current income tax system and go with the Fair Tax. It is the most fair and the only real reform that is out there.
Is Fair Tax the same as Flat Tax?

TAZ:

The Fair Tax would completely kill the income tax, estate tax, capital gains, SS, Medicare taxes. The is a single rate federal sales tax. All items would be taxed only once at it's final retail sale. No VATs that add significantly to the cost of goods.

I think it is ingenius but it'll go absolutely nowhere because politicians don't have the nads to make tough decisions like this.

If you want more info, go here: http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/faq-main.html#1

Check it out. Sounds like a great idea to me.

[Handles]

"I think it is ingenius but it'll go absolutely nowhere because politicians don't have the nads to make tough decisions like this."

You mean they don't have the brains to make SMART decisions like this.

[soarkrebel]

City income tax????????????
Hey we have state income tax but not city!

[Sylvan]

The fairness of a federal sales tax to replace an income tax is a matter of debate and at which stage you are in life. If you have just ended your working career and have saved all your life in order to have enogh money in the bank to live on you won't think its fair at all. You thought you paid the taxes on your savings but now suddenly the rules change and every time you try to spend it you would now be essentially paying an income tax on it for the second time! How is that fair? If there was a way to exempt from the sales tax money that has already seen an incometax I wouldn't have a problem but there is no practical way to do so. Therefore I'm totally against it and my bet so is every other retiree.

[vc1111]

Sylvan, great post.

The Fair Tax, the flat tax, or any variations are something that will remain distant for years to come because none of these simplistic ideas address the needs of the many.

From the article provided:

"This is a flagrant offender," said City Manager Frederick Enderle. "She's been given ample opportunity and ample warning to file those returns and she chose to ignore them."

She is simply getting what one deserves when one ignores all the notices and warnings. Ignorance of the notices and warnings does not constitute innocence.

[kevin1]

I don't have a problem with a flat tax on my income , if they'd just cut out all the pork barrel spending and reduce the fed and state goobs to where they should be then 10% of my gross would do just fine . Until the pork goes no flat tax will ever work . I oppose a national sales tax , with a flat tax there's no need for it . Money would be taxed only once with the flat tax , not every time you try to spend some .