3 ms·
The reason American taxes are more complex is that both parties use the income tax system for social engineering. They want to encourage things like home owners
by strictnein 10y ago
The reason American taxes are more complex is that both parties use the income tax system for social engineering. They want to encourage things like home ownership, attending college, having kids, donating to charity, etc, so they let you deduct related costs.
- alkonaut 10y agoI have tons of deductions too, but the tax authority just assumes I want to do them (interest rate, pension savings, a deduction for home repair ...) so they are filled in so I just accept them. If there is a deduction the trick is to e sure the burden of reporting is placed on the receiver, so charities report donations etc. Because there are fewer charities than donors, that makes the total burden smaller. Taxes are always social engineering.
- jmulho 10y agoModifying the tax code is also the easiest way to accomplish redistribution of wealth (for better or for worse). This is at least in part because the complexity of the tax code obfuscates the cost of the program. For example, should we continue to fund the budget of the "Department of Benefits for People with Spouses Born Before January 2, 1952"? Who benefits (how many and by how much)? What does this program cost? Nobody knows. There is no such department. Instead there is a check box on line 39a of the 1040. Checking it might change the standard deduction, for people who take the standard deduction, if they checked some other boxes, "see instructions".