Tweak IRS

Many people are aware that the income tax laws are complicated and difficult for most taxpayers to follow. I offer one small example to illustrate the point. There are two main programs that offer tax credits for higher education expenses and they are The American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning credit. Both will reimburse for the cost of books needed in the course but the American Opportunity Credit allows you to purchase the book anywhere but the Lifetime Credit states you must buy the book at the University book store. Many students do not realize this and buy the book online and find out only when they file their taxes. How this happened one can only guess but it could be that lobby groups inserted this clause into the law to help university book stores. Imagine all the lobbyist working for various interest groups who are tweaking the rules in far more important ways.