It’s difficult to make a man understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.
Upton Sinclair in I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked (1935), ISBN 0-520-08198-6; repr. University of California Press, 1994, p. 109.
No, he wasn’t really talking about the IRS. But he could have been. If you screw up filing a piece of paper and the IRS has the power to fine you $10,000, it is exceedingly difficult for everyone in the IRS — from the Commissioner on down — to understand why this is a bad idea.
If you are an Accidental American who has lived most of your life in Canada and you don’t file a piece of paper with the U.S. government, it is exceedingly difficult for the Commissioner to understand why claiming 25% of your RRSP is a bad idea.