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IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

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Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#371

Post by joshstrange »

twblalock wrote: post #369
joshstrange wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or at least not any gerrymandering that happened in the past 100 years. This is the /very/ important distinction. Our entire country was gerrymandered when they gave every state 2 votes in the senate. It's truly crazy how few Americans can sway the makeup of the senate/house/EC. Edit: removed "(and 3 base in the house)" because that's not correct, I was mixing it up with the EC in my head.

> Our entire country was gerrymandered when they gave every state 2 votes in the senate. That's not gerrymandering. That's the result of a federal system of government where every state is represented equally in the senate, and on the basis of population in the house. It's fine if you don't like it, but it's not gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is manipulation of district boundaries. Senate representation of entire sta…

You are correct and I misused that term. I thought it was any form of changing/manipulating the system in order to allow minority rule but it’s specific about changing boarders which doesn’t apply to what I was referencing.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#372

Post by scottjg »

repsilat wrote: post #104
sokoloff wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a reference for the deduction greater than basis loophole? I spent a few minutes looking for it on google and couldn’t find a reference. It does seem non-sensical on the face, but I’d like to read more.

One idea I though of in the past: if you have a very high income, your income tax rate can approach 50% (state+federal). If you donate appreciated assets to a DAF, and break the effects down by basis+gains, the numbers look like - 50ish% back after deducting the given unappreciated basis, - Selling the short-term gains would cost you half the profit, so the charitable deduction gets you roughly 100% of the after-tax…

my understanding was that the appreciated value of short-term capital gains aren't deductible as a donation. only the cost basis.

that said, donating stock that has a long-term capital gain is still extremely tax advantageous.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#373

Post by logicallee »

hinkley wrote: post #63
logicallee wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest you change "HN has always been at war with TurboTax" which unless I'm mistaken is a reference to 1984, in which history is rewritten retroactively[1]. To me this phrasing seems to imply that half of your links would be strong support of TurboTax. Since this whole subject includes a lot of doublethink (such as the fact that according to a video someone posted in this thread, the Free File Alliance is a front…

Or did dang just admit that HN redacts and changes old posts?

The comment dang added makes it clear what happened.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#374

Post by catalogia »

dahfizz wrote: post #121
xtracto wrote: post #38

This USA tax thing has always baffled me... it is the exact definition of why we pay taxes: for the government to provide services that are common to the country´s citizens. There´s nothing more common than tax collection: rich, middle class or poor. Why wouldn't citizens demand a public tax filing process? Even in Mexico we have an automagical tax filing process that makes: a) The great majority of the population wh…

I think it comes down to who people trust. Americans on the whole don't trust their government quite a lot. If the government just said "you owe X in tax this year", nearly everyone's knee jerk reaction would be that the government is overestimating and cheating them. On the other hand, you can pay a flat fee to let a third party fight the government on your behalf. That's something that many Americans like the sound…

> 1040EZ, if you even know what that is

I think you buried the lead here. American public schools, part of the American government charged with teaching children and funded by taxes, don't teach kids how to pay taxes to the American government (maybe it sometimes happens, but it's certainly not standard.) It's ludicrous.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#375

Post by catalogia »

icebraining wrote: post #366
CorvusCrypto wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Americans on the whole don't trust their government quite a lot. If the government just said "you owe X in tax this year", nearly everyone's knee jerk reaction would be that the government is overestimating and cheating them. That's why most governments that do self-declaration services make it so you can review what tax rules they based amounts off of. It's not like tax law is super easy elsewhere and without comp…

> That's why most governments that do self-declaration services make it so you can review what tax rules they based amounts off of. Right, but since no regular person understands the rules, they can't really double-check. Especially since sometimes you can file stuff under different rules that produce different results, despite both being valid (I say this based on experience from another country, but I suspect the s…

> "sometimes you can file stuff under different rules that produce different results, despite both being valid (I say this based on experience from another country, but I suspect the same is true in the US)."

Yes, such circumstances exist in the US too. For instance married couples usually file jointly, but they could chose to file separately which results in a different effect.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#376

Post by torgian »

dehrmann wrote: post #210
jacurtis wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most countries have this "automagical tax filing process". And what kills me the most is that America actually secretly has this same system too . Yet every year we have to go through the charade of filing taxes ourselves, when the governemnt already knows what we owe without us needing to round up paperwork, W2 forms, 1099 forms, and so forth. Yet they make us do it anyway. Don't believe me? Simply don't file your t…

> They know all of your income down to the cent If you have a W-2 job and all your investments are in a bank or brokerage, but they still don't know your filing situation, dependents, other income, or deductions. Not that I'm justifying the current system. It's just that the IRS only knows the big picture for most people. The rest is complicated.

Or if you work overseas and send regular payments to your bank account in the States, you need to make sure you file your Foreign Exclusion Tax form. Which is even more complicated. -.-

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#377

Post by kerkeslager »

rayiner wrote: post #301
xtracto wrote: post #38

This USA tax thing has always baffled me... it is the exact definition of why we pay taxes: for the government to provide services that are common to the country´s citizens. There´s nothing more common than tax collection: rich, middle class or poor. Why wouldn't citizens demand a public tax filing process? Even in Mexico we have an automagical tax filing process that makes: a) The great majority of the population wh…

> Why wouldn't citizens demand a public tax filing process? Because they don’t want to make it easy for the government to impose lots of taxes. Americans have the lowest taxes in the developed world. Not especially for rich people, but for everyone else: https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/inline-images/I... . This isn’t the work of some secretive cabal of billionaires. Rich people hire accountants to do the…

1. This doesn't make any sense. The easiest way for the government to impose more taxes is to raise the percentages on the taxes they already collect. Private filing has nothing to do with it.

2. Americans don't have the lowest tax rates in the developed world. Mexico, Ireland, Chile, Turkey, and South Korea all have lower tax rates[1]. And in some cases the governments provide more services with less money because they're not spending half their budget on occupying other countries.

[1] https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-us-taxe...

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#378

Post by CivBase »

ortusdux wrote: post #21

We need pre-filled tax forms. https://priceonomics.com/the-stanford-professor-who-fought-t...

If the government can pre-fill my tax form, why should I even have to file taxes to begin with? Just send me the pre-filled information each year and tell me I need to correct it if it's wrong. Otherwise, I shouldn't have to do anything.

Re: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

#379

Post by burfog »

jacurtis wrote: post #190
xtracto wrote: post #38

This USA tax thing has always baffled me... it is the exact definition of why we pay taxes: for the government to provide services that are common to the country´s citizens. There´s nothing more common than tax collection: rich, middle class or poor. Why wouldn't citizens demand a public tax filing process? Even in Mexico we have an automagical tax filing process that makes: a) The great majority of the population wh…

Most countries have this "automagical tax filing process". And what kills me the most is that America actually secretly has this same system too . Yet every year we have to go through the charade of filing taxes ourselves, when the governemnt already knows what we owe without us needing to round up paperwork, W2 forms, 1099 forms, and so forth. Yet they make us do it anyway. Don't believe me? Simply don't file your t…

If it was automatic, income would be missed. The government would be revealing what it doesn't know about, and people would not supply the missing information.

Under the current system, people aren't sure what the government is aware of. Because we get in trouble for leaving things off, we are more likely to report everything.

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