They make personalized bank checks with pictures of birds, balloons, sports, etc. on them, so why not enjoy personalized income tax forms and booklets, available for free from the government? Choose from a variety of themes that will make filling out your income taxes both more stimulating and more educational.

With lots of cute anime characters (or bird facts, or baseball trivia questions and answers) scattered throughout the instruction book, wouldn't you be more inclined to read it?

Furthermore, the line numbers on the form and in the instructions are co-marked with the same symbol (e.g. a bat or a ball or a white-throated sparrow) so you can quickly recognize when you are in the corresponding part of the instructions and it isn't just comparing digits to digits.

A riddle method could also inspire the reader to check the instructions; e.g. the form shows part 1 of an a propos riddle ("Why don't paramedics play golf?") and you have to visit the instructions for that line number to get the answer ("Because they have enough crises in their lives without 18 more on their day off")

With entirely new versions on each subject each year, you will look forward to receiving your tax booklet each spring.

Like I said, the personalized booklet is FREE (albeit a bit longer than the original) but my hope is that with taxpayers' increased attention to detail and compliance with the instructions, the government should make up the expense through decreased administration needs.

(Do they have anime tax forms in Japan already? Just wondering.)
-- phundug, Jan 31 2007

//why not enjoy personalized income tax forms and booklets/

Banks do this to attract customers; they're in a market, competing for your business, so they do what they think you want. The IRS is in the comfortable position of not having to compete.
-- angel, Feb 07 2007


<rant>

This kind of thing really annoys me when banks do it. It would both annoy and scare me if an agency of the government did it. Stay out of my head, all you essentially soul-less organisations that would pretend to be my personal friend!

</rant>

Seriously, impersonality is an important virtue in government administration. Imagine, for a moment, a bureaucrat who actively competed for your attention, and treated you differently from your neighbour. What would happen to impartiality? Also, how would you feel if he represented a government that you had voted against, and a policy with which you disagreed? How would that influence his 'pro-active' and rather intrusive interaction with you?
-- pertinax, Feb 07 2007



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