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Responding to my post yesterday, in which I noted that Charles Rangel thinks that paying taxes is voluntary, reader T. Alan Younker reminds me that Rangel is hardly alone in this:

After quoting from Charles Rangel's article you commented :"Huh? "Voluntary"?! Since when is anything about our tax system voluntary?" The IRS has certainly put a lot of hardworking taxpayers through the ringer. But recently I bought a book called Cracking the Code by Peter Eric Hendrickson. On page 107 he offers the following quotes:

"The IRS's primary task is to collect taxes under a voluntary compliance system" - Jerome Kurtz, IRS Commissioner

"Our tax system is based on individual self-assessment and voluntary compliance" - Mortimer Caplin, IRS Commissioner

"Each year American taxpayers voluntarily file their tax returns..." - Johnnie Walters, IRS Commissioner

Update... Reader Bill Hesson has it straight:

I think I figured out what the IRS Commissioners mean by "voluntary." They mean that the US Public is a lot more honest than it really needs to be given the level of resources available to enforce compliance.

Update 2... My DC-insider pal "Mick Danger" points to Warren Buffett bloviating about how he "wants to pay more taxes." Hey, buddy, feel free -- it's "voluntary" after all:

The United States' second-richest man has delivered a blunt message to the Bush administration: he wants to pay more tax.

Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the "Sage of Omaha", has complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff - including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn (?25bn), said: "The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic; I don't think it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."

Update 3... Reader Liv Douglas adds,

Seems like U.S. citizens who "voluntarily" don't pay their taxes are "voluntarily" checking themselves into their nearest Federal Penitentiary for a few years...

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