Book of the Week — A Fine Mess

A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System

In the Netherlands, for example, the Algemene Fiscale Politiek (in essence, the Dutch IRS) has a slogan: “We can’t make paying taxes pleasant, but at least we can make it simple.” It is certainly simple for my friend Michael, a successful Dutch executive with a six-figure income and all the economic complications that come with his family’s upper-bracket lifestyle. An American in the same situation would have to fill out at least a dozen different forms, some of them six pages long (or pay somebody to do it for her). Michael, in contrast, told me that he sets aside fifteen minutes per year to file his federal and local tax returns, and that’s usually enough. But sometimes, he said, he needs to check some line item on the return, and that can be time-consuming. At this point, Michael was getting downright indignant. “I mean, some years, it takes me nearly half an hour just to file my tax returns!”

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