Filing Taxes

For John, BLUF:  Bigger than the PP&ACA, the Tax Laws and IRS Rules.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Our local newspaper, The [Lowell] Sun, has a particularly cranky and humorless (and ignorant) Sunday OpEd writer, who a couple of weeks ago took Former SecDef Don Rumsfeld to task for his use of the expression "Unknown Unknows" (known in the 1960s as Unk Unks).♠

Apparently Mr Rumsfeld uses another part of the larger formulation to talk to the IRS, the "known unknown".  His letter can be found at the Tax Prof Blog, here.

From Mr Rumsfeld's letter:

This note is to alert you folks that I know that I do not know whether or not my tax returns are accurate, which is a sad commentary on governance in our nation’s capital.  I do hope that at some point in my lifetime, and I am now in my 80s, so there are not many years left, the U.S. government will simplify the U.S. tax code so that those citizens who sincerely want to pay what they should, are able to do it right, and know that they have done it right.

Mr Rumsfeld adds:

I should add that my wife of 59 years also knows that she does not have any idea whether or not our tax payments are accurate.

I am in the same boat as Mr Rumsfeld.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  A more modern formulation can be found here.