One - The U.S. tax code is approximately 3.7 million words in length.
The Tax code is lengthy. According to Amazon.com the average median length of a novel is 64,000 words. That means the Tax Code is roughly the equivalent of 58 novels.
Two - Citizens have given over $1 billion to the Presidential Election Fund, partly via their income tax forms.
At the top of each Form 1040 is a small box that allows taxpayers to choose to donate $3 to the Presidential Election Fund. While many may ignore this option, others choose to donate every year. Since the option was instituted in the 1970s, more than $1 billion has been collected.
Three - They’re not backing up their data properly.
A recent report from the Treasury Department found that the IRS didn’t have sufficient data backup for taxpayer records, nor did it have plans to implement any in the near future. “If the data is not backed up properly, a possibility exists that all taxpayer and management information could be lost and become unrecoverable,” read a press release from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS said they plan to comply with the report’s recommendations.
Four - Nearly 95,000 people work for the IRS.
Despite numerous myths, the IRS's total number of employees is dwarfed by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. However, the IRS does employ more people than the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for the oversight of Obamacare and its federally run website, Healthcare.gov, the Social Security Administration, and the Department of the Interior.
Five - Donald Duck was once used as a mascot for the income tax system.
In the 1940s, the income tax system was expanded to include all American citizens. Since taxes were originally levied on the rich alone, many middle class and lower class citizens were resistant and didn't file their taxes. To encourage support for the new expanded tax, the U.S. government requested that the Walt Disney company create two cartoons that showcased the income tax system in a favorable light. Both cartoons starred Donald Duck.