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Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

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Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#211

Post by tomsmeding »

Joeri wrote: post #142
scarface74 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.sehinc.com/news/truth-about-speed-limits-explaine... There is no guarantee that a speed limit will have any effect on driving behaviors. The fact is, when driving, most motorists choose a speed in which they personally feel both comfortable and safe.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn#Travel_speeds on a free-flowing section in 1992, the recorded average speed was 132 km/h (82 mph) with 51% of drivers exceeding the recommended speed. The autobahn has a long history proving that people feel comfortable and safe at excessive velocities.

Here in the Netherlands, and I think also in other places in Europe, 130 km/h is the normal highway speed limit, though in places it's at 120 or 100 instead. This was raised from some time ago, when the normal maximum was 120 instead of 130.

So it seems that 130 km/h (81 mph) is not all that excessive.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#212

Post by InitialLastName »

newman8r wrote: post #111
InitialLastName wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After a quick glance through their comment history, it appears they figured out this one neat trick called "homelessness".

If that's true then I feel bad for the guy. Would probably be best for the IRS to give people amnesty in that situation.

I feel worse for the people whose actual, involuntary problems they are trivializing by presenting (true or not) their situation as a "lifestyle choice".

If it helps, some other comments in this thread indicate that there's no need to file a tax return on yearly income under ~$10,000 so this person and others in their situation would likely qualify.

I don't think the IRS should give amnesty for past willful nonpayment in light of present circumstances though. We have a different mechanism for that; it's called bankruptcy.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#213

Post by Joeri »

sDlEzAtyoNAz wrote: post #186
Joeri wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn#Travel_speeds on a free-flowing section in 1992, the recorded average speed was 132 km/h (82 mph) with 51% of drivers exceeding the recommended speed. The autobahn has a long history proving that people feel comfortable and safe at excessive velocities.

Are you suggesting those "excessive" velocities are not actually safe?

If you look at the stopping distances at 80+ mph I don't see how you can argue those speeds are safe.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#214

Post by eftychis »

sgustard wrote: post #167
cortesoft wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is certainly true. In particular, Americans for Tax Reform (the group founded by Grover Norquist) lobbies against any attempt at making paying taxes easier for this reason. Their argument is that people should be constantly aware of how much they are paying in taxes, and making it too easy would hinder this. These groups, combined with tax preparation companies, prevent any meaningful attempt to make paying taxe…

Most people have tax withheld from their paycheck then are delighted to receive a refund the next year. I don't think that provides any meaningful awareness of how much they are really paying, any more than if the process were entirely automatic.

Irrational feeling people have with tax refunds. If you receive a high refund you should be crying. That is money you lost. Nobody is giving you free money. With a really pessimistic 5% return, you ended up paying $5 more per $100 of refund...

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#215

Post by masklinn »

filleokus wrote: post #95

I'm torn on this issue. On the one hand, in Sweden, taxes are extremely simple to file, and I love it for practical reasons. All work income (even from multiple part time jobs which someone said would be an issue) is declared by the employer, almost all saving/stocks/bonds/other stuff resulting in financial gains are reported by the broker/bank. I think many people don't change any of the data, almost 1 million (out…

> I think everyone ought to know roughly how much they pay.

Why do you care? More importantly, why do you want to force people if they don't give a flying fuck?

> I guess this is the reason why Grover Norquist of the Norquist pledge [1] tries to stop measures like this [2].

Grover Norquist tries to stop measures like this because he absolutely hates the very concept of taxation and has made it his life's work to make taxes as painful as possible so others will as well. There is nothing benevolent to Grover Norquist, the man is an intellectual terrorist trying to make countries fail entirely.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#216

Post by ransom1538 »

stephengillie wrote: post #3

I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…

It is a straightforward answer:

This is because the IRS would make less money. It is like a poker game. Their number can only be smaller than yours. If you go under their number they penalize you. If you go over their number they keep the difference.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#217

Post by zacharycohn »

ars wrote: post #31
zacharycohn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may want to consult a tax attorney, if you haven't already...

If the IRS owes him money nothing will happen other than a reminder letter. He won't get in trouble or anything. They will calculate a substitute return and mail it to him. If it shows a refund he can chose to accept, reject, or ignore it. Accept: They'll send him money. But not as much as if he had done the return himself. Reject: You do that by filing a correct return. Ignore: Then he's giving a free gift to the go…

And if he owes the IRS money because he hasn't paid his taxes in 8 years because it's inconvenient, he's in for a world of hurt.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#218

Post by PurpleBoxDragon »

volkk wrote: post #56
stephengillie wrote: post #3

I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…

> It's the worst kind of selective enforcement - random enforcement. Very similar to the way police behave w/ regards to speeding tickets. Set extremely low speeds that don't make sense on highways. Allow most people to go 10-15 above. But then also sometimes choose random people to screw over when it's the end of the month and they need to hit their quotas.

Except it isn't random. Some cops just look for the fastest cars while others will look for out of state license plates. And some will even go as far as basing it off of the demographics of the driver. We would never tolerate a speed limit that allows difference races to go different max speeds, but allowing selective enforcement by cops enables any cop to do this.

Re: Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes? (2015)

#219

Post by masklinn »

ransom1538 wrote: post #216
stephengillie wrote: post #3

I'm annoyed that there is no simple system for the IRS to tell me what I owe, and let me pay or dispute. Instead, we play this game where the IRS provides a bunch of complicated documents, I guess which ones to fill out and submit, then wait 3 years to see if I was randomly chosen to see if I was correct. So it's very easy to make a mistake for dozens of years, then suddenly be penalized at random. It's the worst kin…

It is a straightforward answer: This is because the IRS would make less money. It is like a poker game. Their number can only be smaller than yours. If you go under their number they penalize you. If you go over their number they keep the difference.

> It is a straightforward answer:

It's also patent nonsense.

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