The annual grumbling over tax day may obscure the fact that our income tax filing system actually fulfills an important role as a rite of citizenship, and even has an important place in our popular culture, says Duke University law professor Lawrence Zelenak.
Lawrence ZelenakProfessor of law, Duke University Law Schoolhttp://www.law.duke.edu/fac/zelenak
Zelenak teaches, researches, and writes about income tax, corporate tax, tax policy and torts. He is the author of a forthcoming book tentatively titled "Learning to Love the 1040" (University of Chicago Press, 2013).Quote:"A number of proposals are floating around to eliminate the tax return filing requirement for most or all Americans. As tax day approaches, millions of Americans struggling with their returns may hope for the enactment of one of those proposals.
"Before we eliminate the 1040, however, we should consider that return-based mass taxation may serve an important function as a ceremony of fiscal citizenship, much as voting serves as a ceremony of political citizenship.
"The return-based nature of the federal income tax has given it a special place in American culture, as indicated by -- among other things -- the many income tax-related sitcom episodes and New Yorker cartoons, from the 1940s to the present."