Deficit Reduction Made
Easy: Change Tax Day

by Peter H. Schuck

As I pondered o'er my forms
Seeking haven from tax storms
I reached judgments quite severe
'Bout the pols who put me here

Taxes are beyond the ken
Of any of us mortal men
Schedules we can't comprehend
Calculations without end

Cross-reference leads to cul-de-sac
Definitions double back
Instructions that do not instruct
All to take my usufruct

How can ordinary Joes
Deconstruct IRS prose?
Who (save those with MBAs)
Can navigate this maddening maze?

1040 is the hardest part
But that, alas, is just the start
States, of course, must have their say
Each taxing in a different way

Heaven help the folks like me
Who live in A and work in B
Then New York City, for my pains,
Takes a piece of what remains

As soothsayer, I must estimate
Or be fined next year for paying late
If, God forbid, dependents work
I file more forms - a parent's perk

I guess I have myself to blame
For playing in this ghastly game
I could have hired a CPA
To get me through this dismal day

But since I trod those many miles
Compiling records, forms, and files
It seemed that I should be the one
To frolic in this springtime fun

Justice Holmes said long ago
(When governments small kept taxes low)
Tax was civilization's price
Purchasing what Holmes found nice

'Tis true enough, but Holmes omits
To mention that those benefits
May cost us more than they repay
When politicians join the fray

They love to spend our hard-earned wealth
It buys them votes - but not by stealth
For we, like fish, respond to lures
The more one gleams, more it obscures

Those lures add up to deficit
And though it's dropping bit by bit
Fiscal balance - 'o halcyon day
Is always several years away

We warm to politicians' smile
Their promises do us beguile
We forget that bills come due
(I pray mine will be sent to you)

The problem's ancient, I suppose
Yet simple answer I propose
The goal? Forge links 'twixt choice and cost
Tightening discipline we have lost

How, you ask, can this be done?
Can deficit wars be truly won?
Can voters learn that what they buy
Is what on Tax Day makes them cry?

Reform our calendar - this I urge
It separates what we should merge
Election Day is too remote
We should pay tax just 'ere we vote

Like hanging, as Sam Johnson said,
We'd focus on both hope and dread
As we elected in November
Just-paid taxes we'd remember

No six months lapse would dissipate
The pain we felt on payment date
No April songbirds, budding trees
Would salve that wound or suffering ease

A Tax Day on November first
Would regulate the voters' thirst
By entering the polling booth
With tax in mind, we'd vote the truth

Memory on Election Day
Would limit wants for which we'll pay
By sharpening our civic nerve
We'd get the government we deserve

******

Peter H. Schuck is a professor at Yale Law School.
peter.schuck@yale.edu