President Obama spoke at a White House event on tax deadline day and had plenty to say about the future of taxes in this country. He said that his administration is working toward “a simpler tax code that rewards work and the pursuit of the American Dream”.  The President also noted that he has asked his economic advisors to throughly review how to simplify the tax code and report back to him by the end of this year. He further stated, “We need to simplify a monstrous tax code that is far too complicated for most Americans to understand, but just complicated enough for the insiders who know how to game the system”.  “It will take time to undo the damage of years of carve-outs and loopholes. But I want every American to know that we will rewrite the tax code so that it puts your interests over any special interest. And we will make it quicker, easier and less expensive for you to file a return, so that April 15 is not a date that is approached with dread each year”. Political rhetoric? Certainly. Have we heard it before? Yes. But I have a feeling this President will actually try to do something about the tax code. Will he succeed? In my wildest imagination, I cannot imagine a revision of the existing tax code that would accomplish what he is trying to accomplish. I think he will have to scrap the existing system and initiate something entirely different to have a working chance of “changing” the system. If he is successful, it will enable those of us who become mired in the preparation of tax return preparation each year, to spend our time being more productive on behalf of our clients. And that is as it should be. So much of our time is now taken up by compliance work that is required by the government, that any actual productive work for our clients may get pushed to the back burner. As always, stay tuned for the changes as they happen.