Ugh

[sgtpoliteness]

Tax law is little more than a complicated set of formulae that one has to apply in certain situations. Everything is algebraicly defined.

So why the hell don't the writers of the tax code write it out that way? I can guarantee you that everyone who has to deal with the tax code has enough mathematical wherewithal to understand algebra

Comments

[willielhelmo]

Could the vagueness be to allow for easy changes without creating public uproar? If the language is vague enough, it's fairly easy to change it without making sweeping changes - if you have a definite formula and then change the numbers, it's very readily obvious when even a small change occurs. If you keep the language vague and confusing and change the defining variables a few pages down, thereby completely changing the results but keeping the process theoretically the same. Equally, you can add additional clauses a few pages down which edit how the formulae work without rewriting everything

[shmike95]

Yeah. About a billion of them.

And there's a little problem with metadata. Sure, if you're an experienced tax accountant or tax lawyer, you have a good chance of knowing the definitions of all the terms, the definitions that were used in those transactions that didn't come complete with tax forms and the matching of the two. And you probably have seen the clarifications that courts and bureaucrats have issued.

I know I'm not really disagreeing, but I hate the damn tax code. I've never done my taxes (my dad is a CPA) and see no reason to learn.

Reagan was right. The tax code is an abomination.

[arkanaut]

But it's good for the economy. Without it, all those tax lawyers would lose their jobs!