Pedantry: the article claims "Paying taxes is a universal experience", but only 60.4% (2024) of American households pay income tax.
Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
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Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#22Taxes in the US are unnecessarily stressful. I remember going to H&R Block and being sent home to find some piece of supporting documentation because it was “really important”. I turned the whole apartment upside down but wasn’t able to find it. Went back to the tax preparer in a state of high anxiety. When I asked what would happen if I couldn’t find the document and was told the impact on the final assessment could…
It's to H&R Block's benefit to make you feel that taxes are stressful and you need 3rd party help, though. That you were stressed out about this interaction is H&R's fault; not the law or the IRS.
There is shared blame here.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#23> Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do All German readers spew out their drink in disbelief - Pardon what?
The German word for how complicated the tax code is is "die Steuerverfassungskomplexität"
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#24Tax should be something that must be standard, simple, educated from a young age. But somehow miraculously it still becomes full of pressure in any country.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#25California sent me a notice I screwed up and owed an extra $100 or so. Didn't really explain it, but I paid and they never bothered me again.
I paid on the actual official website, did not get scammed BTW...
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#26> to accurately prepopulate tax returns for around 45% of Americans. (Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do.) One should note that the cited study quotes the 45% from a 1992 study. These days, with gig economy and quasi-self-employment, that number is probably higher since you don't have an employer who reports your income for you. Still, here in Australia, where we have the return-free tax sys…
Income reporting is not the problem: Anyone paying you any significant amount of money is required to file with the IRS, including if you’re paying yourself.
The issue is the broad range of deductions and credits that depend on things like the composition of your household and your primary residence. Contra some expectations, the IRS does not keep a database of who’s shacking up with whom, where, or if kids are in the picture.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#27Pedantry: the article claims "Paying taxes is a universal experience", but only 60.4% (2024) of American households pay income tax.
A large majority have to file though, even if they don't owe any taxes. It's still a pain in the ass.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#28Pedantry: the article claims "Paying taxes is a universal experience", but only 60.4% (2024) of American households pay income tax.
A large majority have to file though, even if they don't owe any taxes. It's still a pain in the ass.
Unfortunately, the IRS built DirectFile to enable free filing and the current admin killed it. Maybe we’ll get it back in three years after regime change.
https://github.com/IRS-Public/direct-file
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#29> Those other countries have much simpler tax codes than we do All German readers spew out their drink in disbelief - Pardon what?
I think you're vastly under estimating how complicated the us tax code is.
Re: Millions of Americans mess up their taxes, but a new law will help
#30Taxes in the US are unnecessarily stressful. I remember going to H&R Block and being sent home to find some piece of supporting documentation because it was “really important”. I turned the whole apartment upside down but wasn’t able to find it. Went back to the tax preparer in a state of high anxiety. When I asked what would happen if I couldn’t find the document and was told the impact on the final assessment could…
This is the result of decades of Republican lobbying, legislation and outright sabotage. The philosophy, openly advertised by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, goes like this: nobody likes taxes. So if people find the filing process difficult and stressful every year, they will be constantly reminded of this fact. This will in turn make them more open to suggestions and propaganda along the lines of taxes b…
The ease in which you can get away with these tactics ad infinitum is starting to make me a pessimist. It feels like it takes almost an entire population of unified people, that are diligently advocating on behalf of themselves, to compete with a ruling class that has the resources to stay on the offense forever.
The ruling class doesn't even have to actively communicate and conspire with one another (although they do). Their independent attempts to undermine and control government furthers the agenda of all private businesses.