4 ms·

> Many countries have deeply complex tax codes. Can you give an example of any country whose tax code is more than 70k pages long? Or a country where it requi

by yunesj 6y ago

> Many countries have deeply complex tax codes. Can you give an example of any country whose tax code is more than 70k pages long? Or a country where it requires, by default, taxes paid on money earned while living oversees, depending on a large number of international treaties, case law, and expensive private letter rulings? Or a country that requires you to file a different tax return in almost every state you step your foot in while working remotely? Or a country that requires you to essentially recalculate taxes on a quarterly basis to determine if you should be fined for underpaying estimated taxes? > nightmare scenario That’s not a nightmare scenario. That’s just a standard audit. They assume, e.g., zero coat basis, or residency, or it wasn’t used for business, or ... and you have to prove otherwise.

kennywinker 6y ago
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/29/15109214/tax-code-page-count-complexity-simplification-reform-ways-means https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/29/15109214/t... > As of 2014, the tax code was only about 2,600 pages long The usa hardly has a monopoly on tax code complexity. We're talking about personal income tax right now and I can't find a complexity index for that, but for business taxes the usa ranks fairly low on https://www.taxcomplexity.org/ https://www.taxcomplexity.org/ > That’s not a nightmare scenario. That’s just a standard audit. The "nightmare" scenario was "you recalculate it from scratch, send it to them, and then they audit you." - a scenario you put forward where this improvement to the tax code (auto-filled returns) results in a world where any time your return isn't what they auto-filled you get audited. That sounds bad, but has not happened anywhere where auto-filled returns have been implemented.
- yunesj 6y ago
  > the tax code was only 2,600 pages - Vox > “a tax practitioner who relies just on the tax statutes will go to jail” - Tax Foundation https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code/ https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code/ > nightmare scenario has not happened anywhere I’d be surprised to learn that any country had zero audits, because their file-free tax system worked for everyone. Is that the case anywhere?

by yunesj 6y ago

kennywinker 6y ago

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/29/15109214/tax-code-page-count-complexity-simplification-reform-ways-means https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/3/29/15109214/t... > As of 2014, the tax code was only about 2,600 pages long The usa hardly has a monopoly on tax code complexity. We're talking about personal income tax right now and I can't find a complexity index for that, but for business taxes the usa ranks fairly low on https://www.taxcomplexity.org/ https://www.taxcomplexity.org/ > That’s not a nightmare scenario. That’s just a standard audit. The "nightmare" scenario was "you recalculate it from scratch, send it to them, and then they audit you." - a scenario you put forward where this improvement to the tax code (auto-filled returns) results in a world where any time your return isn't what they auto-filled you get audited. That sounds bad, but has not happened anywhere where auto-filled returns have been implemented.

yunesj 6y ago
> the tax code was only 2,600 pages - Vox > “a tax practitioner who relies just on the tax statutes will go to jail” - Tax Foundation https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code/ https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code/ > nightmare scenario has not happened anywhere I’d be surprised to learn that any country had zero audits, because their file-free tax system worked for everyone. Is that the case anywhere?