Speed Gibson

King Banniain (I have to have a little fun now that I'm on the Kool-Aid blogroll) on the Final Word segment (3-5 pm Saturdays on the Patriot) told of helping his son do his taxes this past week. The Federal was easy enough as it usually is when your net tax is zero. But the State return was more complex, and asked for a "donation" of over $600 to boot. He said something that made me think he was going to talk about a postcard return for State income taxes, but he went in another direction.

So, let me bring it up again. Why do we play the silly game that is form M-1 every year? Why not simply have this:

1. Enter your Federal tax from line xx..
2. Multiple by xxx percent
3. Subtract what you've paid in, e.g. withholding.
4. Pay in or await refund of the difference.

We know what to set the percentage at, since we have to include our Federal return with our State return. So why can't we adopt this and save a whole lot of pointless processing time, our contribution to closing this year's deficit?

In maybe 20 years at the current spending growth rates, we can then simplify it further:

1. How much did you make last year?
2. Send it in.