What Jerry Seinfeld Taught Me About Tax Reform

Friends,

Season 7. Episode 6. The Soup Nazi.

If you have not seen it, I beg your pardon. Stop reading. Go watch it. Come back.

Here is the thing about the Soup Nazi. He had one rule. One. Perfectly clear. Follow the rule, get the soup. Break the rule, no soup for you.

Government has forty thousand rules. Nobody knows all forty thousand rules. The average American breaks three laws a day without knowing it.

A true enigma wrapped in a riddle.

The Soup Nazi system worked because it was simple. One rule. Stated out loud. In plain language. Everyone understood it.

Our tax code is 4,000 pages long. Four thousand. My khakis have been around for fifteen years and they are still in better shape than Form 1040.

Here is my Seinfeld-inspired tax reform plan:

One page. Plain English. You can fill it out during a commercial break.

If Jerry and George can navigate the soup situation on 74th and Broadway, surely we can navigate the IRS.

Less is more. Always.

Navigating this like Windows 95 is not a compliment, friends. It is a cry for help.

Forsooth!

Eugene

P.S. I tried to call the IRS last week. I am still waiting for my pager to beep with a response.