The problem is not who prepares your taxes. The problem is how complicated taxes are.
How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
341–350 of 454 posts
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#342I haven't read a legitimate argument against the IRS calculating taxes automatically, but here it is. The more invisible taxes are to the individual person, the less they think about that money (and the higher taxes can go without them complaining too much). Rent feels expensive because every month you write a check for rent. However, for many people, taxes are a much bigger expense than rent. But taxes don't feel as…
Sales tax would solve that real quick.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sweden. Free university, no fee healthcare for kids, a few dollars for adults. But it's a sketchy country... be careful if you go there. #lastnightinsweeden
You'll find sketchy things in any country. "Be careful" is quite the exaggeration in my opinion. Not going to the worst neighbourhoods during Friday nights applies to anywhere.
I don't think it was serious, the post was referring to Trump's campaign speech.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#344I have experience as a tax payer in Estonia (employee only) and Australia (employee and business owner). In Estonia I login to my bank with my citizens ID card, click through a few screens ... and my tax return is done. All the financial information supplied by my employer to the government is immediately visible and checkable, not to mention donations made to tax-deductable organisations is also immediately visible. It is incredibly quick and convenient. In Australia it's just easier to leave everything to my accountant as they already have my quarterly business returns information; cost is still pretty reasonable (500AUD or so for the yearly business returns and the personal returns for my wife and I). But ... yeah ... in Estonia it just rocks. The ID-card based functionality for banking, digital signatures, tax ... just awesome.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why would anyone oppose a simple system like this? Because you want to make people angry and upset at least once a year at the government? Because you want to remind people that taxes are something the government takes, instead of letting them think of taxes as money they never earned to begin with. I love paying my taxes, but if you think taxes are bad (and lots of people do), then the current U.S. system makes to…
You... love paying taxes?
Same here. Every time my son is unwell, I get an almost instant appointment with our local doctor. All his medicine is paid for. He gets a good education, a safe environment in which to grow up, lots of good activities. Taxes might have been lower in Victorian England, but I sure as hell am happy I was born in the 1980s.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#346Earlier quoted context omitted.
So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form, which increases red tape, which requires a need for a free market service, the revenue from that service in turn goes to feed more lobbying for more red tape. This is basically collusion, using the worst aspects of the free mar…
So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form Politicians protecting an industry through action or inaction, no matter if its lobbyists or others suggesting that they do, isn't the free market.
The free market will necessarily reward a small number of winners way out of proportion to everyone else. These companies will have a much larger lobbying war chest. Stuff like this is not somehow a betrayal of market principles, but the perfectly predictable result.
It is all very well excluding corporate lobbying from your scholastic definition of a free market. Such a market will never exist anywhere for more than five minutes.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#347I live and work (not self-employed) in Germany, which has one of the most complex tax systems in the world. Normally, a certain amount is deducted from my salary upfront automatically so I pay my most of my taxes through the year. The deducted percentage is defined by so-called "tax class" (1 for singles, 3/5, 4/4 or 5/3 for married or "registered partnership" couples).
When the year is over you MAY file a tax declaration if you had 1 or 4/4 combo - or you MUST file it if you had 3/5 or 5/3 combo (because then you have normally underpayed the taxes through the year as a couple). If you have 1 or 4/4 you have normally overpayed taxes so if you don't file, the goverment is happy.
The tax code in Germany is mindbloggingly complex. And it's not just laws, its' also "common practices", knowing what the Tax Authority (Finanzamt) accepts and what not. It's also knowing the current lawsuit which may be potentially applicable to your declaration. Every year there's a few dozen such tax lawsuits where the results are applicable to large groups of taxpayers.
When I was single I either didn't file the tax declaration or filed it myself with the help of software and a few books. There's a bestselling book "1000 absolutely legal tax tricks" (https://www.amazon.de/Konz-1000-ganz-legale-Steuertricks/dp/...) which is a a good starter.
Nowadays with family and kids we must file a tax declaration, but now there are so many special cases we're either subject to or can profit from that it's not realistic to do it on our own. We outsource our tax declaration, it costs us around 300€ a year and is absolutely worth it. Our tax consultant routinely argues with the Finanzamt over two-digit sums, basically fights for every cent.
Honestly I don't think we'd better off if the tax system in Germany would have been simpler. We profit from a number of special cases like "extraorinary burden" because of the disabled child, so I think in the "one size fits all" system we'd probably lose. I'm totally fine with 300€ fee for the tax consultant, she allows us to use the benefits of the system. By the ways, this fee is considered the next year, we get out tax back from the fee.
If I remember correctly, a few years ago politicians discussed a "no-file" option: you declare that you don't file you tax declaration this year and get some bonus back (I think the proposed sum was around €300). The Finanzamt has less work to process declarations, so probably this was worth it. I don't think it was implemented, however.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#348I have experience as a tax payer in Estonia (employee only) and Australia (employee and business owner). In Estonia I login to my bank with my citizens ID card, click through a few screens ... and my tax return is done. All the financial information supplied by my employer to the government is immediately visible and checkable, not to mention donations made to tax-deductable organisations is also immediately visible.…
In the Netherlands it is similar, most information is combined for you by the government, they even introduced an app to file your taxes last year. It probably is still a lot of work for businesses though...
We often hear about the advanced digital government in Estonia, must be nice to have such an open minded country.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#349I live in New Zealand. I don't have to file taxes if my income is a standard wage my tax payments are automatic. My employer deducts them from my wage and they are sent to the IRD (Our government tax dept). My student loan and super payments are also automatic. If there is anything wrong then at the end of the tax year I can file to correct things. I also get donations rebates, this is a one page form that lists all…
U.s. govt uses tax code to incentive behaviors. We have 1040ez which is almost as simple as the NZ system if citizens don't want or have any deductions.
I disagree. It's easy, but not as simple.
Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)
#350Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'll find sketchy things in any country. "Be careful" is quite the exaggeration in my opinion. Not going to the worst neighbourhoods during Friday nights applies to anywhere.
I don't think it was serious, the post was referring to Trump's campaign speech.
Oh, I see.