Other improbable-sounding ploys work because the courts have blessed some taxpayer-friendly interpretation of a complicated code.

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And with the code so confusing, a taxpayer can rationalize that maybe a plan works or that everybody else must be getting around the rules, too.

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It evidently puts the taxpayer afoul of another one of those weird tax code provisions that make Internal Revenue Service agents rub their hands with glee.

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Now, under the current Tax Code, Section 6103 limits disclosure of taxpayer information except under specific circumstances.

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In her 2011 Report to Congress issued earlier this year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson presented a separate argument for overhauling the Code.

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The Internal Revenue Code prohibits the IRS's misuse or improper disclosure of taxpayer information.

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The combination of growing tax code complexity, last minute tax tinkering, and underfunding of taxpayer service at the IRS, she argues, burdens honest taxpayers and leaves ordinary folks suspicious of the system and readier to fudge themselves.

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Ms. Olson explains that, not only is the Internal Revenue Code more complicated than ever, but the IRS must serve an increasingly diverse taxpayer base, respond to the explosion of tax-related identity theft, and administer spending programs that require the IRS to distinguish between valid and fraudulent refund claims.

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