Looking to Russia for small government

The fact that IRS fails to collect $345 billion a year in owed taxes is one problem. But now Washington is up in arms over the private debt collectors the IRS has employed to close the tax gap, costing an estimated $37 million - more than the collectors actually managed to collect. Of course, the standard reaction is more government, not less:

"This is a waste of taxpayers' money, and it could be much better spent if it were given to the IRS to hire more employees," said Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 85,000 employees at the IRS.

While I agree with Ms. Kelley that this ineffective collection system is a "waste of taxpayers' money," perhaps the problem lies with the IRS's byzantine tax laws, which judging by the $345 billion left uncollected annually, are complicated enough that some people simply ignore them as much as possible, and hope not to be audited.

If we assume that taxation is a necessary evil (and that's a big if in some libertarian circles!), it's clearly in everyone's best interest to make sure that the tax system is as straightforward as possible, reducing the temptation to skimp on one's taxes.

While it's somewhat heartening that the IRS's desperation forced it to look into the private sector to resolve its problems, perhaps there's a proven alternative?

We have to look no further than Russia, where a 13% flat tax almost doubled tax revenue. At first glance, it may seem unfair that multimillionaires and schoolteachers alike are expected to pay the same portion of the their incomes to state coffers. What's one million more to a billionaire, the progressive tax argument goes. Well: "'Why have a progressive tax system that doesn't work?' asks Vladimir Redkin, an economist at Russia's Bureau of Economic Analysis." Why indeed have a program where $345 billion goes unpaid?

And while tax evasion is still a problem, it's an increasingly lower one: "'It's a small amount, so of course it's worth paying,' says Natasha Diniliouk, an accountant who lives in Moscow." Perhaps a sentiment that may be echoed by successful Americans, no longer needing tax havens and clever accounting to protect their hard-earned money.

So maybe, just maybe something like that would work in the US? Of course, we'd no longer need most of the IRS bureaucracy at that point, but I'm sure that's a sacrifice Americans would be willing to make, if only to compete with those damn Commies...