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Doing taxes doesn’t bother me; seeing how much of my money the government earned the float on does. Unless withholding is perfect, I essentially give the govern

Doing taxes doesn’t bother me; seeing how much of my money the government earned the float on does. Unless withholding is perfect, I essentially give the government an interest free loan every year. We should end automatic withholding and let everyone pay their taxes on April 15.

harryh 9y ago
Unless your tax situation is unusual, it's not that hard to change your withholding to minimize the float. And for most people the magnitude of that float is tiny. People get outraged by the point a lot more than is warranted by the data. You also propose a very poor solution. A large % of Americans are not disciplined enough with their budgeting to save such a large % of their income to write a single check every year. A lot of folks simply wouldn't have the money when it came due. What would you do then?
- bscphil 9y ago
  Ironically, most of the people I run into get outraged by the opposite - that they didn't get much money back on their "return".
  - harryh 9y ago
    Yes, and there is a certain class of people that likes to demonstrate their mental superiority by making fun of those people. The people who do this are assholes.
oculusthrift 9y ago
yeah but most people would be too stupid to save enough throughout the year to pay their taxes in april
- grzm 9y ago
  It’s a bit simplistic to call it stupidity. Long-term planning like this is a skill that’s not strongly supported by default human psychology. We use all kinds of tricks and techniques to overcome this, and withholding is one. Similar issues arise with, say, planning for retirement or taking into account the effects of climate change, or exercise and diet. If it were something that came to us naturally, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Work by people like Thaler and Sunstein is encouraging because it helps us improve our skills in a systematic manner so it can better scale.

harryh 9y ago

Unless your tax situation is unusual, it's not that hard to change your withholding to minimize the float. And for most people the magnitude of that float is tiny. People get outraged by the point a lot more than is warranted by the data. You also propose a very poor solution. A large % of Americans are not disciplined enough with their budgeting to save such a large % of their income to write a single check every year. A lot of folks simply wouldn't have the money when it came due. What would you do then?

bscphil 9y ago
Ironically, most of the people I run into get outraged by the opposite - that they didn't get much money back on their "return".
- harryh 9y ago
  Yes, and there is a certain class of people that likes to demonstrate their mental superiority by making fun of those people. The people who do this are assholes.

oculusthrift 9y ago

yeah but most people would be too stupid to save enough throughout the year to pay their taxes in april

grzm 9y ago
It’s a bit simplistic to call it stupidity. Long-term planning like this is a skill that’s not strongly supported by default human psychology. We use all kinds of tricks and techniques to overcome this, and withholding is one. Similar issues arise with, say, planning for retirement or taking into account the effects of climate change, or exercise and diet. If it were something that came to us naturally, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Work by people like Thaler and Sunstein is encouraging because it helps us improve our skills in a systematic manner so it can better scale.