U.S. Taxpayers Spend 6 Billion Hours Complying With Tax Laws

The federal tax code is now so onerous that it takes 6 billion hours to comply.

The federal Taxpayer Advocate ranks complexity as the No. 1 problem facing the tax system and offers an eye-opening estimate of Americans’ cost of complying – $168 billion in 2010, or about 15% of total income-tax receipts.

In her 2012 annual report to Congress, Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson says it takes U.S. taxpayers more than 6.1 billion hours to complete all the filings required by the tax system, making tax compliance “one of the largest industries in the United States.” That is the equivalent of more than 3 million full-time employees.

Here in North Carolina, the Republican-led General Assembly and Gov. Pat McCrory realize that complexity is one of the problems with the North Carolina tax code, along with its biases, and they appear ready to tackle it. Here’s a some excellent information for them to consider in reforming the system, courtesy of JLF’s John Hood.