...Amen to the idea of simplifying the Tax Code, Nate. Years ago, the Law Firm I worked for sent me to a two day long seminar to discuss a new series of Tax Codes. We were especially concerned about how Congress, in their infinite wisdom, passed many Statutes that affected Pension Plans. We advised several Companies on their Pension Plans, and I was a Director on one Plan. If memory serves me correct, the new Codes were called ERISA, which we practitioners decided stood for "Every Ridiculous Idea Since Adam' after reading the damn thing. But, many provisions were very unclear. Not correctly advising a Plan could result in severe penalties to the Company and the Retired Employees, so we needed to understand them.
The Seminar was in San Francisco, at an expensive hotel, the only nice part of the event. I ate a good dinner both nights, and then drank several glasses of wine as I watched movies in my room, and pondered over the event.
Now...please keep in mind that the six panelists were highly regarded National Experts on Pension Plans, and several had written articles and books about them. But...
...EVEN THEY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT A LOT OF THE SECTIONS OF THE LAWS MEANT!!!!
A typical exchange was..."Irving, I believe section 4.783b means...*gives explanation"" The reply from Irving would be, "I don't know, Paul, you could be right, but I think it means...*explains* What do you think, Pete?" Pete would say, "Both of you might be correctly interpreting it, but I think it could mean...*explains*"
Nobody learned ANYTHING during the seminar, the panelists concluded by saying, "The IRS will watch how taxpayers are handling the Laws, and then the IRS will issue Regulations that will explain the sections, and will use the interpretations that generate the most taxable income.
I went back to the Firm, and said, "I am resigning as a Director of the Plan that I am on, and I recommend that we stop advising Pension Plans until the IRS has issued Regulations. We don't want to get our asses sued because we didn't interpret the Law correctly. I am pretty good at interpreting Tax Law, and I don't understand these new Laws...but if the Nations Specialists don't know what these Laws mean, I am in pretty good company."
...I resigned...explaining to the Plan Administrators why I was doing so, and recommended a large San Francisco Firm to take over their account. The President of the Company laughed his ass off, "P-----, this is the first time you have EVER said you didn't understand a Law...even when you have been wrong a few times." I just bristled, and went back to my office and closed my door, and put on Rach's 2nd Symphony as I drank a small glass of brandy. (It was after hours...so it was OK.
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