Taxation without representation

Is the tax code voted on by the peoples' representatives or does
the legislature pass a general bill and allow the IRS or DOR to
fill in the details? My specific question - which the IRS hasn't
answered - is about the requirement for estimated taxes.
I am the first to admit that I am not as brilliant as I once was,
but I do have over 10 years of college education with 4 degrees.
I have great difficulty filing taxes each year, so I use and trust
software created by tax accounting firms. The government
school graduates probably cannot even use the software and
have to pay someone else to do their taxes. I - like most - pay
taxes at the 15 April deadline.
One thing that I hate, is payments to the government are
accelerated while payments from the government are
delayed. Under SC DOR rules, I must pay estimated payments
of 100% of the tax paid on the previous year's return OR
90% of the tax on the next year's return.
The problem is that I will make less this year than last because
I have sold far fewer stocks during 2009 than in 2008. I have
improved both my model and my portfolio, and I am more
content to buy high-quality, high dividend stocks and hold
them. So 100% of the 2008 tax is excessive, and 90% of the
tax for 2009 is a wild guess at best. My deadline was
10/10/08!
The question is whether I am charged a penalty for failing to
comply with a law debated and passed by the peoples' elected
representatives or an internal policy of the IRS/DOR? I think
that our founding fathers called that "taxation without
representation."
Note that the Fair Tax solves the problem!