Dental Visit or Taxes?

2005-04-12 08:23:26 PM
Posted on Tue, Apr. 12, 2005
49% prefer dental visit to doing taxes
By Will Lester
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - How unpleasant is it to fill out federal tax forms?
Unpleasant enough that Americans are about evenly divided when asked in a
survey whether they would prefer a trip to the dentist.
"Anybody who says they don't mind their taxes is lying," said William
Long, a Ferris, Texas, businessman. "I definitely put them off until the
last minute, even when money is coming back. I just don't want to deal with
them."
Long is among those scrambling to meet the filing deadline. Taxpayers
have until 11:59 p.m. Friday to file their 2004 returns.
Nearly a third of the 133 million income-tax returns expected this
year will come in to the Internal Revenue Service during the last two to
three weeks, IRS spokesman Eric Smith said. He anticipated that almost nine
million will file extensions so they can file late returns, and two million
to three million are expected to miss the due date.
It is easy to see why so many wait.
Seven in 10 said their federal taxes were too complicated, according
to a poll conducted for the Associated Press by Ipsos-Public Affairs. The
survey found 49 percent would prefer a trip to the dentist, while 48 percent
would rather prepare their taxes.
Simplifying the tax system is the goal of a federal panel that will
collect information the next few months and is expected to offer
recommendations by midsummer. The proposals that might be considered
include:
Reducing income-tax rates while imposing a national sales tax.
Instituting a flat tax that would have everyone pay the same rate
regardless of what they earn.
Most people do not like the flat-tax idea, with 57 percent of those
surveyed saying people with higher incomes should pay a higher tax rate.
Only 40 percent thought tax rates should be the same for everyone.
By a 3-1 margin, Democrats said they preferred to have the wealthier
paying a higher rate, while Republicans were more likely to favor taxing
everyone at the same rate.
"There are the fortunate few who are making their living on other
people's hard work; they can afford to give more back to the government,"
said Phil Rosenfeld, a computer consultant from Miami who leans Democratic.
Kim Howard-Johnson, a San Diego homemaker who leans Republican, said
she would like to see the tax rates the same for all income levels.
"I think it should be changed," she said. "That's the fairest thing to
do. It would provide an incentive for people to make more money."
Another way to simplify taxes would be to eliminate some tax
deductions and credits, but people were sharply divided on that issue.
Forty-five percent supported the idea, while 51 percent opposed it.
The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults was taken April 4 to 6 and has a
margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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