If not a lie, a gross distortion from W.

Last night President Bush called the current tax code "drag on our economy which is a complicated mess, filled with special interest loopholes." He told us about the frustration caused for Americans "saddled with 6 billion hours of paperwork and headache every year" and committed to creating "a simpler, fairer" system.

But the facts contradict that pledge. Bush has pushed through changes to the tax code far more complicated and burdensome for taxpayers. According to official Internal Revenue Service estimates from 2000 to 2003, "the time required for the set of forms associated with the 1040 has increased by 3 hours and 8 minutes."[3] The average taxpayer spent 1 hour and 20 minutes longer filing his or her taxes in 2003 than in 2002. He gave us tax cuts that favored the wealthy but his increase in paperwork was more evenly distributed. Many taxpayers not getting much of a reduction at all have to fill out the same forms that save others millions.

Sources: 1. "Text: President Bush's Acceptance Speech to the Republican National Convention ," The Washington Post, 9/02/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3447473&l=53415.
2. Ibid, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=3447473&l=53415.
3. "Economic Snapshot," Economic Policy Institute, 9/2/04.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.