This tax year is going to be even worse because of all the changes from the new tax law. Even tax lawyers are going to need to call the IRS so they can advise their clients. For farmers a big problem is applying for loans for their spring planting and receiving the 2018 crop report, and the 2019 projections and advice for what and how much to plant, not to mention that the China soybean issue is a further complication that impacts plans on other crops. I saw one report about people out of work because their day care for non government jobs was in a federal building that is now shut down. The complications and problems are endless. It is hard enough for our complex economic system to run without throwing all these other new or disfunctional factors in at once. The President and ourselves may spend a lot of time and effort pulling us out of the mess that gets worse and worse as the shutdown continues.
I'm in the Great Unwashed, and we have very simple tax returns. They'd be even simpler if we had a flat tax with a high personal exemption. Thanks gleeaikin.