January 19, 2010
Most people would agree with Chris Edwards that the federal tax code is insanely complicated. The IRS Commissioner doesn’t do his own taxes, the Treasury secretary and other Washington policy experts haven’t paid what is owed, and the already overwhelmed IRS would be given an expanded role under the Democrat’s health care legislation.
A key problem is that the social engineers on Capitol Hill have run amok. Recently, they have been enamored with home-buying tax credits, and CNN.com notes how it is further overwhelming the IRS bureaucracy:
On Thursday, CNNMoney revealed that buyers who purchased their properties after Nov. 6 were unable to claim the refund because the Internal Revenue Service had yet to release a new form and instructions. But on Friday, the IRS finally posted the new form 5405.
Claiming the credit now requires sending paperwork to the IRS – no e-filing allowed:
And these new buyers can no longer file electronically. They have to mail in paper forms, including the new 5405, whether they are amending their 2008 taxes or claiming it on the 2009 taxes that are being filed this spring. That is going to dramatically slow refunds, but taxpayers can’t blame the IRS. Instead, it’s people scamming the system who are at fault. For example, in October tax preparer James Otto Price III was the first person convicted of this crime. He falsely claimed the credit for 15 clients. So buyers must now file documentation with their taxes – including proof of residency, a signed mortgage statement and drivers license – which the e-file system is not equipped to handle.
The original homebuyer tax credit, which became available in April 2008, generated a nightmare of fraud. In one case, the credit was claimed by a four-year-old. Even IRS employees filed “illegal or inappropriate” claims for the credit. As a result, when Congress extended and expanded the credit in November, the IRS began requiring extra documentation.
Thus, micromanagement through the tax code is a bureaucratic Catch-22. If the IRS streamlines the paperwork, tax breaks get riddled with fraud and abuse. If it tries to cut down on the fraud and abuse, taxpayers and federal workers get bogged down in a pile of wasteful paperwork.
The solution to the problem is for the government to get out of the social engineering business. Federal attempts to foster homeownership are a perfect example of why such attempted engineering can ultimately cause more harm than good. The homebuyer tax credit should be allowed to expire at the end of April, and the federal tax subsidies for homeownership should be ended.
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