Here's some good news: someone in the presidential race is actually thinking.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards proposed on his podcast today to have the IRS automatically calculate taxes for people who don't itemize deductions. Those taxpayers would receive a mailing dubbed "Form 1" with their taxes already calculated, and they would just have to sign it and return.

Edwards' plan would also automatically include the Earned Income Tax Credit, putting money in the pockets of the 25% of eligible low-income taxpayers who currently forget to claim the credit.

The really cool thing (cool in a creepy tax-accountant sort of way) is this: the IRS already calculates your taxes. I mean, if you make a mistake, they'll correct it and notify you of the modified amount. If you don't itemize deductions, the IRS doesn't even need any information from you to do the calculations -- they already get your income information from your employer.

The thing is, right now, they don't tell you they've calculated your taxes, and then charge you a penalty if your laborious calculations don't match the ones they've already done.

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Come on, even the phone company does a better job of billing you than the IRS. Can you imagine if your next AT&T bill came with blanks in place of all of the numbers? Something like this:

Line 1: Enter Balance from Last Month: ____

Line 2: Enter Adjusted Gross Minute Usage: ____

Line 3: Monthly Minute Allowance (Consult Page 8 of the "Paying your Bill" booklet): ___

Line 4: Standard Monthly Charge: ___

Line 5: If Line 2 is Greater than Line 1, Consult Worksheet 1635Q in the "Paying your Bill" booklet; otherwise, enter the amount from Line 4: ____

Etc, etc, etc...

Of course, they also keep track of your minute usage, and check it against your bill. They charge you an exorbitant fee if you misreport your minute use. If you miscalculate, they send you a form letter asking you to file your phone bill again.

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I promise you right now, that if the phone company ever sends me a bill like that, I'm going to swear off phone use and go back to letter writing. Seriously.

Yet the U.S. government does exactly the same thing every single year, and it's about time to change that. Kudos to Edwards for putting out the idea.

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(Thanks to an AP story via the North Carolina News and Observer for the tip.)

(this post should not be construed as an endorsement. the author remains undecided about who to vote for in the democratic primary)