With Tax Day just around the corner, Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) is calling on Congress to enact comprehensive, pro-growth tax reform.

“As we are all reminded this time each year, our current tax code is a massive, costly, and complicated mess.  It’s time for comprehensive reform to lift the burden off of Michigan families and small businesses,” said Upton.  “Enacting pro-growth reform that makes our system simpler, fairer, and more competitive would deliver the long-term boost our economy needs.  I applaud Chairmen Camp and Baucus for their ongoing, bipartisan efforts to see much-needed tax reform made a reality this Congress.”

Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation, are leading current efforts in Congress to see comprehensive tax reform enacted.

According to the federal government’s own Taxpayer Advocate Service, U.S. taxpayers spend more than six billion hours and $168 billion every year to complete their tax filings.  Today, the U.S. tax code weighs in at nearly four million words – more than five times the length of the King James Bible or nearly four times that of all seven Harry Potter books combined.

“The complexity of our current federal tax code is a significant and persistent barrier to job creation and economic growth,” said David Rhoa, President of Lake Michigan Mailers of Kalamazoo.  “It serves as an unnecessary and overly-costly burden to Michigan’s small business community and the families they employ.   Michigan is a shining example of how simplifying the tax code can bring about economic renewal, job creation, and a level playing field for all of our citizens.  The federal tax code must be reformed to ensure fairness and simplicity while fostering economic growth.”

It has been more than a quarter century since the tax code was last overhauled.  How complex is today’s tax code?

-  In 1913, when the annotated U.S. tax code was created, it was about 400 pages.  Today, that code including its regulations, explanations, and annotations is more than 70,000 pages long

-  There has been 4,400-plus changes to the tax code in the last decade alone – more than one per day

-  The United States has more tax preparers than firefighters and police officers combined

-  The “easiest” tax form, the 1040EZ, has 46 pages of instructions