Death and Taxes

 Ben Domenech makes the argument over at The Federalist that I've been making for ten or fifteen years.  For true tax reform, end withholding of federal taxes.

The overwhelming majority of Americans pay their taxes by having them extracted from their paychecks before they ever see the money. Operating under the fiction that the government is giving you money as opposed to returning what it has already taken is damaging to the psyche of the nation’s taxpayers. The primary argument against such a move – that millions of irresponsible Americans in the income tax-paying classes won’t save up enough to write a giant check to the government come April 15th – encourages a viewpoint of the role of government as an entity that must constantly protect us from ourselves.

Mandatory withholding protects us from ourselves.  We don't have to  write a check to the government once a month.  It's really quite painless.  Entirely too painless.

If the overwhelming majority of taxpayers had to send in quarterly payments (like businesses do), the tax revolt would be immediate and overwhelming.  As it is now, we've got no skin in the game.  Ending withholding would put every taxpayer firmly in the game.

What are the chances?