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> This method of "filing taxes" makes it easy to comply with filing and I'm guessing it makes collection rates better with less work. This is by design, in the

> This method of "filing taxes" makes it easy to comply with filing and I'm guessing it makes collection rates better with less work. This is by design, in the US the anti-tax crowd wants filing taxes to be harder and more inefficient. It serves their purposes. And they are a powerful lobbying group.

Broken_Hippo 6y ago
While the anti-tax folks sometimes want this, I'm pretty sure most of the actual lobbying that keeps it difficult is done by the tax software companies - Intuit, for example. Not including sales tax actually demonstrates more clearly the result of anti-tax sentiment, though I'm still not convinced it is lobbying itself that does this. Instead, the same sort of folks go into politics and directly get involved in making laws about this sort of thing. Of course, this is built on a long-standing anti-tax sentiment in the US that folks tie into an "origin story" of sorts (taxation from England minimally helped spur the revolution). And they do have a point: The more of a pain a tax is for the taxpaper, the more they think about disliking taxes. But it doesn't realistically go that far: We do all sorts of things to make paying taxes easier for folks. Gasoline prices include all taxes (from federal down to sales tax). Payroll taxes are deducted from your paycheck. Stores collect sales tax instead of you sending it to the government. Prepaid phone plans still have taxes included and renters don't pay for property tax directly.And so on.
ceejayoz 6y ago
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. In 2005, Grover Norquist had this to say: > Doing taxes keeps citizens aware of the tax burden imposed upon them by the government. https://theweek.com/articles/825902/how-republicans-trapped-themselves-tax-refunds https://theweek.com/articles/825902/how-republicans-trapped-...
- Broken_Hippo 6y ago
  So does your paycheck stub, though (or more currently, the paper you get each time you are paid).

Broken_Hippo 6y ago

While the anti-tax folks sometimes want this, I'm pretty sure most of the actual lobbying that keeps it difficult is done by the tax software companies - Intuit, for example. Not including sales tax actually demonstrates more clearly the result of anti-tax sentiment, though I'm still not convinced it is lobbying itself that does this. Instead, the same sort of folks go into politics and directly get involved in making laws about this sort of thing. Of course, this is built on a long-standing anti-tax sentiment in the US that folks tie into an "origin story" of sorts (taxation from England minimally helped spur the revolution). And they do have a point: The more of a pain a tax is for the taxpaper, the more they think about disliking taxes. But it doesn't realistically go that far: We do all sorts of things to make paying taxes easier for folks. Gasoline prices include all taxes (from federal down to sales tax). Payroll taxes are deducted from your paycheck. Stores collect sales tax instead of you sending it to the government. Prepaid phone plans still have taxes included and renters don't pay for property tax directly.And so on.

ceejayoz 6y ago

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. In 2005, Grover Norquist had this to say: > Doing taxes keeps citizens aware of the tax burden imposed upon them by the government. https://theweek.com/articles/825902/how-republicans-trapped-themselves-tax-refunds https://theweek.com/articles/825902/how-republicans-trapped-...

Broken_Hippo 6y ago
So does your paycheck stub, though (or more currently, the paper you get each time you are paid).