201–210 of 279 posts
This years it took me about three minutes: log in, scan throug the numbers, sign to accept. Then i went for a coffee. That how we do it in Sweden.
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$3k??! How is that possible? I get personal and business taxes done for $200
I pay very close to that for our US taxes. We have to file 5 federal returns and one state return: an MFJ 1040 with supporting schedules (A, C, and D primarily), 2 kiddie returns, 2 gift tax returns, and a state return. Throughout the year, we file quarterly estimated taxes and 4868s. Our total filing packet runs to nearly 100 pages and our annual bill is between $1800 and $2500, depending on the exact complexity, wh…
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We have those - but the system is constructed to be simple. If a not insignificant part of the population is eligible for some deduction, then either a) ensure it's automatically registered or b) remove the deduction or raise tresholds until everyone can again file automatically. For example, interest rates, pensions, charities, home improvements etc are deductible and automatically deducted since e.g the bank or cha…
But you are overlooking the fundamental underlying problem. You didn't mention whether the "easy to file" tax system would be an advantage to Democrats or Republicans. Without knowing that, it is impossible to assess any piece of legislation.
If a law is merely about bureaucracy and is neutral in terms of e.g tax pressure of redistribution then any political resistance must surely be because of some kind of unwanted influence from an organization or company?
On a related note, a Stanford tax law professor Joseph Bankman had run trials of pre-filled forms for a few California state taxpayers. Listen to his journey on Episode 760 of PlanetMoney podcast: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/03/22/521132960/episo... TL;DR: * 99% of people liked the pre-filled forms * He took this idea to California state congress, but Congresspeople were "warned" about him by Intuit lobbyi…
ReadyReturn sounds like it only works if you have an extremely simple tax return. While that is great, I don't understand how the people with a simple W-2 are having such a painful time with taxes. It takes about 5-10 minutes to finish a simple return. What am I missing?
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/04/vanessa_william.htm...
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There's good evidence for this. That was part of the reason the Feds pushed employers to do withholding "on our behalf" during the 1930s. Prior to that, taxes were filed quarterly and then only a small % of people. But people actually saw how much they paid. Withholding was a clever and subtle way for us to never see part of our paycheck so then any tax return we get feels like a bonus when it was actually just an in…
One interesting, and somewhat ironic, historical footnote to this, is that Milton Friedman was part of the group that conceived of and implemented employer withholding as we know it while he was working at the Treasury department. Though by his account it was introduced during WWII and not in the 1930s. ref: http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.be/2014/04/how-milton-f...
Thanks for the correction.
Ref: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/tax/10/understanding-ta...
Overlooked in this article and comments is the influence of one man -- Grover Norquist. He runs an extremely influential organization that administers a sort of purity pledge that, for most Republican candidates for Congress, is necessary to sign in order to avoid being primaried. He has decided that making taxes easier to do would make people more okay with tax increases, and so he has decreed that support for the k…
There's good evidence for this. That was part of the reason the Feds pushed employers to do withholding "on our behalf" during the 1930s. Prior to that, taxes were filed quarterly and then only a small % of people. But people actually saw how much they paid. Withholding was a clever and subtle way for us to never see part of our paycheck so then any tax return we get feels like a bonus when it was actually just an in…
The destruction of the tax prep industry in the US would make me so happy that it would overshadow any negative feelings I might have about my tax payments being more transparent to me.
The numbers quoted in the article are insane. Over $10 billion that could be spent on actual useful economic output, wasted. Hours and hours of individuals' time, wasted. It's disgusting.
In some ways I find the preservation of the tax prep industry to be even worse than Trump's recent attempts to protect/resurrect coal industry jobs.
On a related note, a Stanford tax law professor Joseph Bankman had run trials of pre-filled forms for a few California state taxpayers. Listen to his journey on Episode 760 of PlanetMoney podcast: http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/03/22/521132960/episo... TL;DR: * 99% of people liked the pre-filled forms * He took this idea to California state congress, but Congresspeople were "warned" about him by Intuit lobbyi…
ReadyReturn sounds like it only works if you have an extremely simple tax return. While that is great, I don't understand how the people with a simple W-2 are having such a painful time with taxes. It takes about 5-10 minutes to finish a simple return. What am I missing?