I see so many posts that have the wrong idea. So many of our politicians and lobbyists are former lawyers. Even the accountants are in on it. The laws are written to be purposely complicated so mega corporations keep smaller entrepreneurs down and lawyers/accountants big fees for knowing the rules inside out(they wrote them).

Why do you think large companies give stock options as compensation instead of straight cash. It is to avoid taxes.

The average American has one source of income a W2. A simple tax filing. Next time you do your tax filing, look at the questions TurboTax or FreeTaxUSA asks you and then look at the offical government tax doc(this is what gets filled out with your answers).