The lesson to take from all of the problems that people are having with their taxes is not that this or that person may have "shaved" what they owed, or "misunderstood" the rules, or "made mistakes." It;s that the tax code is virtually incomprehensible to most people and relies on personal honesty. Neither accounting acumen nor high levels of integrity are present in the payment of taxes. Time to reform and go to a sales or value-added tax that cannot be escaped and encourages saving instead of consumption.