David Thomas: “I do not object to the idea of withholding. It is probably the only way to do it. But withholding sort of slips in there…”

“I do not object to the idea of withholding. It is probably the only way to do it. But withholding sort of slips in there and you hear people talking all the time, ``Well, gee, I got money back.'' It is my money. It is my money. Back from where? Anyway, it is a very high figure. But it seems to me--and I wanted to focus on this, and I am going to speak for just a few minutes about this--it is too complicated, much too complicated, and too difficult to figure. Again, an estimate is 4.5 billion hours a year are spent in the preparation of tax returns. That is an astounding number as well. Each of us knows how difficult it is to figure our taxes. They are too hard to enforce. The more complicated, the more difficult it is in the tax system, obviously it is more difficult to enforce. And enforcement is important. You have to ensure that, when you have a tax system, that everyone is treated fairly in that tax system, that everybody contributes what under the law they are supposed to contribute. So the tax system makes it most difficult. Probably there are too many loopholes. They are often called loopholes. The fact is, over time, the Tax Code has been used to affect behavior.”