41–50 of 67 posts
Having seen their work before, wakeuptopolitics is a sort of fetishist for appearing unbiased or centrist so they won't bother calling out "one side" in order to appear to be enlightened and above the fray at the expense of the truth. While Democrats also get money from turbo tax et al., it was Trump who ended it likely just to spite Joe Biden, in his usual manner.
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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 d…
All this is with just the very basics, not counting step up basis, trusts or anything slightly complicated.
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I think that's common in most places. What's different in the US is that the IRS forces you to proactively provide a lot more information about it, though. I have a rental property and need to enter the same information about the same income and expenses on three different forms, breaking it down in different ways. It's tedious and error-prone, and I guess the philosophy is that it's easier to spot fraud if the numbe…
What three forms are you talking about?
Pedantry: the article claims "Paying taxes is a universal experience", but only 60.4% (2024) of American households pay income tax.
This is a rhetorical sleight of hand; almost everyone pays FICA taxes at some point in their life, and of course there are other taxes than Federal income tax.
I like one of the memes online that describe filing tax as you’re taking a test that the government knows the answer to, and if answer the questions wrong, you go to jail.
The government doesn't know the exact answer - if they did we wouldn't have to file at all. Have a kid? Buy a house? Go to college? Make $60k selling illicit drugs on the black market? Get a $200 bank signup bonus? These all affect taxes. One could argue in a dystopian way that technically "the government" as a whole does know these things, but suffice to say, the IRS doesn't, necessarily.
The whole point of filing is that our tax code is ridiculous. We shouldn't get mad at filing, but at our ridiculous tax code. But it'll never be fixed, there's way too much pork stuffed in it from both sides.
Also, nobody files 100% correct taxes. Show me the person, I'll show you the crime(so to speak). You do not go to prison for making mistakes!
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The average American shouldn't need top tier accounting to file their taxes.
The average American can file for free, or at least it was possible in the past. They could also learn to file their taxes, as well as simple tax planning, in a very short video.
You are all done.
Unless you have something wack going on its not even a process. I have had signups which are more complicated then it.
American taxes on the other hand mega suck, and have 9000 pitfalls.
I like one of the memes online that describe filing tax as you’re taking a test that the government knows the answer to, and if answer the questions wrong, you go to jail.
It's a bizarrely simpleminded and incorrect meme, then. The government doesn't know the exact answer - if they did we wouldn't have to file at all. Have a kid? Buy a house? Go to college? Make $60k selling illicit drugs on the black market? Get a $200 bank signup bonus? These all affect taxes. One could argue in a dystopian way that technically "the government" as a whole does know these things, but suffice to say, t…
Lmao in Australia, other then the drugs, yes the government knows because everything is reported to them.
America is just behind.
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It's a bizarrely simpleminded and incorrect meme, then. The government doesn't know the exact answer - if they did we wouldn't have to file at all. Have a kid? Buy a house? Go to college? Make $60k selling illicit drugs on the black market? Get a $200 bank signup bonus? These all affect taxes. One could argue in a dystopian way that technically "the government" as a whole does know these things, but suffice to say, t…
> Have a kid? Buy a house? Go to college? Make $60k selling illicit drugs on the black market? Get a $200 bank signup bonus? Lmao in Australia, other then the drugs, yes the government knows because everything is reported to them. America is just behind.
My favorite interaction to tell however belongs to the TSA. I went through the scanner and it flagged the back of my head. The TSA agent said he needed to verify, so put on gloves and patted the back of my head before letting me go. I wear a military cut, the back of my head is done with a #1/2 guard. For those not in the US, that's a buzz cut of length 1.5mm.