US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#21

Post by wildrhythms » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 2:16 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #17

shostack wrote: post #3

Does this in any fashion help pave the way to a more modern tax filing system whereby the government tells you what you owe without today's current labyrinthine filing process like other countries have had?

No. Most of the complexities in the tax system are due to tax incentives and exemptions that the tax payer needs to verify.

What percentage of Americans do you genuinely believe file non-standard taxes?

All I see is a potential "tax bill" system that would simplify the process for the vast majority of Americans, and the percentage of Americans who file non-standard taxes can continue to do so no different than they do already.

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#22

Post by corpo_punisho » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 2:53 AM UTC

actually_a_dog wrote: post #6

shostack wrote: post #3

Does this in any fashion help pave the way to a more modern tax filing system whereby the government tells you what you owe without today's current labyrinthine filing process like other countries have had?

No, because Intuit is still going to keep lobbying against it.

How has the influence of lobbying been counteracted in other cases?

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#23

Post by refurb » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 3:51 AM UTC

wildrhythms wrote: post #21

refurb wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Most of the complexities in the tax system are due to tax incentives and exemptions that the tax payer needs to verify.

What percentage of Americans do you genuinely believe file non-standard taxes? All I see is a potential "tax bill" system that would simplify the process for the vast majority of Americans, and the percentage of Americans who file non-standard taxes can continue to do so no different than they do already.

Have you seen the questions in a standard tax return? Lots of stuff the govt has to validate - are you blind, do you have dependents, etc.

If you wanted a truly hands off tax return you’d need to revamp a ton of the tax law.

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#24

Post by kadoban » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 5:55 AM UTC

corpo_punisho wrote: post #22

actually_a_dog wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because Intuit is still going to keep lobbying against it.

How has the influence of lobbying been counteracted in other cases?

In general, it hasn't. Unless there are at least competing interests with similar sized bank accounts or a _very_ strong and _very_ vocal preference from voters, lobbying wins.

We've legalized bribery in America, we just call it something else.

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#25

Post by chrisbennet » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 8:31 AM UTC

actually_a_dog wrote: post #15

anm89 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why this is downvoted. This is factually accurate and a major factor in why we haven't seen tax reforms.

Take a look at my comment history for the past 2 weeks if you want to see a bunch more unexplainable downvotes. I've also been repeatedly IP banned multiple times during the same period, sometimes even multiple times a day, which has never happened before. I don't spam requests to the site, and haven't changed my browsing habits a whit. I've emailed admin and they won't even acknowledge me as a human. It's pretty mad…

Not sure what's going with your account but I upvoted you.

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#26

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Sun, Sep 12, 2021, 9:12 PM UTC

chrisbennet wrote: post #25

actually_a_dog wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at my comment history for the past 2 weeks if you want to see a bunch more unexplainable downvotes. I've also been repeatedly IP banned multiple times during the same period, sometimes even multiple times a day, which has never happened before. I don't spam requests to the site, and haven't changed my browsing habits a whit. I've emailed admin and they won't even acknowledge me as a human. It's pretty mad…

Not sure what's going with your account but I upvoted you.

I logged back in just to do that. Downvotes should cost.

Re: US Treasury Department to monitor all US bank accounts over $600 [pdf]

#27

Post by dang » Mon, Sep 13, 2021, 1:33 PM UTC

I'm late to this, but the submitted title violated the site guidelines. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting to HN.

If you want to say what you think is important about an article, that's fine, but do it by adding a comment to the thread. Then your view will be on a level playing field with everyone else's: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...