Filing on deadline? You're not alone. | csmonitor.com

I sent off my taxes today and oh man, what a chore! I guess I can be grateful that I didn't owe the State of California anything, the amount I owed the IRS was bad enough. The problem: I worked for FOUR different people last year and only one took out anything from my paycheck. Of the rest, only one issued me a 1099 to help me do my taxes. UGH. I used TurboTax to help me prepare, and the forms are in the mail, but even now I cannot be 100% certain that I did everything right. But at this point - I don't care any more. I paid the US Government close to 200 bucks. I made a good faith effort to comply with the law and if I made a mistake, I will blame the fella who wrote the tax code. I don't mind paying taxes. I understand that my money goes to important things, like defense, law enforcement, parks, education, etc. But what bothers me is that the US Government makes it so damn difficult to fill out a tax form. An entire industry has now been created just to help people comply with the law. I would really like to see the elimination of the income tax and its replacement by a national sales tax, collected by the States and handed over to the Federal Government. All but five states in the Union already charge a sales tax. Many include an exemption for food. I propose the following change. Eliminate income tax; it is cumbersome and a pain in the ass. Then, impose a national sales tax, which would be paid on all purchases with the exception of food and medicine. This sales tax could be graduated, with a higher rate paid on purchases over $500, or some other number that the Congress in its infinite wisdom sees fit to set. This tax would be collected by the states, using the existing sales tax structure, and handed over the Feds. There would be no 1040s to sweat over, no fear of the IRS, and it would be much harder to avoid taxes. I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but one thing is clear: When I have spend several hours over several days just to comply with the law - the law needs to change.