Taxes and Tax Policy

Albert Einstein reportedly once said: “The hardest thing in the world to understand is income taxes.” It is true that taxes can be complicated. The United States federal tax code is more than 70,000 pages long. ¹ Browsing the tax code’s table of contents offers a glimpse into the vast complexity of federal taxation. ² Entire sections of the tax code apply specifically to the taxation of vaccines (Sec. 4131–4132), shipowners’ mutual protection and indemnity associations (Sec. 526), specially sweetened natural wines (Sec. 5385), and health benefits for certain miners (Sec. 9711–9712).