Former Washington, DC, mayor and current Council member Marion Barry is again in the news again. When I heard about his implacable tax challenges, I felt as though I worked in the Department of Redundancy Department.
If news reports are correct – and I have understood them properly -- Mr. Barry has filed only one tax return this decade. He says he has been too busy doing the people’s work on the DC City Council.
It is hard to tell whether the population has become inured to tax scofflaws given President Obama’s luck with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and failed nominees Thomas Dashcle and Nancy Killefer. Mr. Geithner, of course, is responsible for the Internal Revenue Service. I would love to be a fly on the wall if Commissioner Douglas Shulman ever needs to talk with the Secretary about a planned IRS initiative to rachet up enforcement on underreported income. How would that conversation go? But I digress.
Let us return to Marion Barry. Is there some way we can help the man comply with the tax laws?
At the moment, federal prosecutors are recommending that he be put in jail, just as they did last year when he did not file. The judge refused then. She will again preside over the case this time around. Odds are that even she will throw the book at the former Mayor and send him to prison.
All is not lost, however. I know how Mr. Mayor can pass his time productively. While in the hoosegow, give him a copy of the 100+-page Form 1040 instruction booklet, requisite tax forms, ample scrap paper, several pencils, and a pocket calculator. Once he completes his tax return, he can go home.
Given the total number of hours Americans spend preparing their taxes as reported in the National Taxpayer Advocate’s latest annual report, the average per taxpayer is about 36 hours. If the Councilman’s tax situation is average, he will be free in a week. If, however, he has been avoiding his taxes not merely because he has been too busy representing his constituents but his tax circumstances are highly-complex, he could remain in lockup through the next decade, during which time he probably would not be inclined to file any tax returns anyway.
This arrangement could produce some good. The mayor would pay his debt to society, literally and figuratively. Plus, he would form a Focus Group of one evaluating how complex are our tax laws and instructions. He could even attain folk hero status, maybe having a Law named after him, especially if his reflections on filing and paying taxes lead to new tax simplification legislation.
For years people have been complaining how difficult taxes are. Imagine. Mr. Barry could be the impetus for permanently removing all the pain millions of Americans have been suffering for so many years.
I can see it now. Given Congress’s penchant for selecting cute names, I suspect they will title Marion Barry’s bill Just Ask Incarcerated Legislators.
The JAIL Act of 2009, for short.
Fred W. Apelquist, III
Approximately 505 words.
© February 11, 2009
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