If, as Oliver Wendell Holmes claimed, taxes are what we pay for a civilized society, we have become very civilized indeed.A difficulty is that tax laws are so complicated, so convoluted, so loaded with preferences and exceptions that it’s next to impossible to understand them, let alone apply them fairly.President Barack Obama must be acutely aware of this problem by now.  Tom Daschle, his first nominee to run Health and Human Services, withdrew after the disclosure Daschle hadn't paid $146,000 in back taxes.  The same day, chief performance officer designee Nancy Killefer withdrew her name from consideration because of tax issues.In his role as Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner runs the Internal Revenue Service.  This is ironic because it was disclosed, during his confirmation hearings, that Geithner had failed to pay almost $40,000 in taxes since 2001.  Moreover, he took a dependent-care credit on his returns even after an accountant advised Geithner...(Read Full Post)