[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Drop them a Card

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Drop them a Card
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1208234918.shtml


   King Banniain (I have to have a little fun now that I'm on the
   Kool-Aid blogroll) on the Final Word segment (3-5 pm Saturdays on the
   Patriot) told of helping his son do his taxes this past week. The
   Federal was easy enough as it usually is when your net tax is zero.
   But the State return was more complex, and asked for a "donation" of
   over $600 to boot. He said something that made me think he was going
   to talk about a postcard return for State income taxes, but he went in
   another direction.
   So, let me bring it up again. Why do we play the silly game that is
   form M-1 every year? Why not simply have this:
    1. Enter your Federal tax from line xx..
    2. Multiple by xxx percent
    3. Subtract what you've paid in, e.g. withholding.
    4. Pay in or await refund of the difference.

   We know what to set the percentage at, since we have to include our
   Federal return with our State return. So why can't we adopt this and
   save a whole lot of pointless processing time, our contribution to
   closing this year's deficit?
   In maybe 20 years at the current spending growth rates, we can then
   simplify it further:
    1. How much did you make last year?
    2. Send it in.