Tuesday, April 15, 2014

We are all at risk and that's precisely the way the bureaucrats - politicians like it.

Donald Rumsfeld pens open letter to the IRS every year explaining he has 'no idea' if his returns are accurate 


  • Rumsfeld made the claims in a letter shared on Twitter on Tuesday
  • Says he doesn't even know if tax returns and payments from years prior for him and his wife are accurate
  • Calls his lack of knowledge regarding the documents' accuracy is a 'sad commentary on governance in our nation's capital'
  • Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says he has 'no idea' whether his tax returns and payments are accurate. 
    Rumsfeld made the claims in a letter that was sent to the IRS and shared on Twitter on Tuesday - and says he sends the same letter to the agency every year. 
    He also says he doesn't even know if earlier tax documents are accurate for him and his wife. 
    'I have sent in our federal income tax and our gift tax returns for 2013,' it reads. 'As in prior years, it is important for you to know that I have absolutely no idea whether our tax returns and our tax payments are accurate. I say that despite the fact that I a college graduate and I try hard to make sure our tax returns are accurate.'
    'I have no absolutely no idea if my taxes are accurate': Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the claims in a letter shared on Twitter on Tuesday
    'I have no absolutely no idea if my taxes are accurate': Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made the claims in a letter shared on Twitter on Tuesday
    Rumsfeld's letter later criticizes the perceived complexity of the US tax system. 
    'The tax code is so complex and the forms are so complicated, that I know I cannot have any confidence that I know what is being requested and therefore I cannot and do not know, as I suspect a great many Americans cannot know, whether or not their tax returns are accurate,' he writes. 
    Confused? Rumsfeld said he didn't even know if tax returns and payments from prior years were accurate
    Confused? Rumsfeld said he didn't even know if tax returns and payments from prior years were accurate
    He later adds, 'This note is to alert you folks that I know that I do not know whether or not my tax returns are accurate, which is a sad commentary on governance in our nation’s capital.'
    Elsewhere in the letter, Rumsfeld, 81, says that he hopes the tax code will be simplified before he dies. 
    'I do hope that at some point in my lifetime, and I am now in my 80s, so there are not many years left, the U.S. government will simply the U.S. tax code so that those citizens who sincerely want to pay what they should, are able to do it right, and know that they have done it right.'
    Online commenters have criticized Rumsfeld's letter on the social media platform - and one user has even alleged Rumsfeld committed perjury by submitting the tax documents. 
    '"No idea?" So you both committed perjury when you declared it was true to the best of your knowledge,' the user says. 
    'Protip: IRS doesn't write the tax code, Congress does,' one user wrote. 
    'Accuracy is a tricky thing isn't it? A bit like the evidence for Weapons of Mass Destruction,' another commenter wrote. 
    'Considering you claim to not know what constitutes torture, I think we all have a little trouble believing you,' one user said. 
    'They're going to the debt you crated [sic] with Iraq war. And why aren't you in jail?' another said.  




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