5 ms·

They are frustrated, they're simply not aware that Intuit and other players have exercised regulatory capture to make it so awful and blame "the government" sin

They are frustrated, they're simply not aware that Intuit and other players have exercised regulatory capture to make it so awful and blame "the government" since the IRS is the face of it. Other modernized nations have nothing like this insanity, often sending people yearly reports they can accept (since for most cases they are accurate) or send in amendments. This is far from the only issue that business interests have made the USA almost uniquely fucking stupid about.

cebert 5y ago
That’s my frustration. Tax filing should be a free service of the IRS for everyone. The process could be much better too. The IRS already has my W2s, 1099s, etc. There’s no reason I need to resupply what they already know.
- jevoten 5y ago
  There is a reason - lobbying: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f...
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
dec0dedab0de 5y ago
sending people yearly reports they can accept (since for most cases they are accurate) or send in amendments. This would be perfect. It doesn't make any sense that my employer, banks, etc has to send everything in, but then I do to. I wish someone would set up a class action lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of everyone with ADHD, claiming that forcing everyone to do tedious paperwork is a violation of the ADA.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Darmody 5y ago
The government here (Spain) knows the money I make just as any government knows about its citizens. When I'm to do my taxes, I get an auto generated draft and the only thing I have to do is click the "Accept" button. You only have to fill your taxes manually if you're self employed or have some sort of earnings other than your job, in which case, the company that does you accounting, does the taxes for you too in 15 min.
- jrockway 5y ago
  > The government here (Spain) knows the money I make just as any government knows about its citizens. The problem the IRS is trying to solve is collecting taxes on money they don't know about. For example, if you sell illegal drugs, you should be paying tax on that income. But obviously you don't report to the government the amount of illegal drugs you sell. So they can't just send you a bill for your taxes. It is odd that every American has to suffer for this obscure corner case, but they probably lose a lot of revenue if they stop taxing drug dealers, so here we are.
  - monocasa 5y ago
    Drug dealers aren't stupid enough to be reporting their incomes to the IRS, they're just getting an extra criminal charge when they get caught. It's not the IRS caring about losing revenue, but lobbying from tax firms that's the problem.
    - beardog 5y ago
      There's a corner-case to this corner case which is marijuana sales. Legal state vendors are technically violating federal law but the IRS still expects a cut from them, and the ones wanting to stay in good standing are certainly reporting.
      - monocasa 5y ago
        And, staying in context to the discussion, the IRS already knows about all of that from these companies' public state level filings.
rootusrootus 5y ago
> Intuit and other players I hate to defend Intuit, but this is backwards. It is more accurately "Other players and Intuit" where "Other players" means the Republican Party. Thanks to efforts by Grover Norquist, the GOP is fundamentally opposed to making it easier for the IRS to collect taxes. Intuit's lobbying efforts are practically meaningless in comparison.
- Kye 5y ago
  I think you're trying to draw a distinction where there isn't one. Who do you think lobbyists lobby?
- monocasa 5y ago
  The Democrats are also opposed to simplifying the tax system. Some of this is lobbying; some of this is the philosophical approach the third wayers running the party have to fixing .gov with more rules rather than less.
unosama 5y ago
I prefer an incompetent yet inconvenient government. Most of Europe also had a very effect "green passport" scheme where all medical information was logged and tracked whereas in the states such efforts have been a lot more difficult to enforce.
- sofixa 5y ago
  > Most of Europe also had a very effect "green passport" scheme where all medical information was logged and tracked Nope. A "green pass" is a QR code saying FirstName LastName (born on X, only available for border crossings) has had 3 doses of Pfizer, last one on date Y OR has had a negative PCR on date Y. The apps used to read and validate those QR codes don't track anything and there's no other medical or personal information.

cebert 5y ago

That’s my frustration. Tax filing should be a free service of the IRS for everyone. The process could be much better too. The IRS already has my W2s, 1099s, etc. There’s no reason I need to resupply what they already know.

jevoten 5y ago
There is a reason - lobbying: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f...
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago

dec0dedab0de 5y ago

sending people yearly reports they can accept (since for most cases they are accurate) or send in amendments. This would be perfect. It doesn't make any sense that my employer, banks, etc has to send everything in, but then I do to. I wish someone would set up a class action lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of everyone with ADHD, claiming that forcing everyone to do tedious paperwork is a violation of the ADA.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Darmody 5y ago

The government here (Spain) knows the money I make just as any government knows about its citizens. When I'm to do my taxes, I get an auto generated draft and the only thing I have to do is click the "Accept" button. You only have to fill your taxes manually if you're self employed or have some sort of earnings other than your job, in which case, the company that does you accounting, does the taxes for you too in 15 min.

jrockway 5y ago
> The government here (Spain) knows the money I make just as any government knows about its citizens. The problem the IRS is trying to solve is collecting taxes on money they don't know about. For example, if you sell illegal drugs, you should be paying tax on that income. But obviously you don't report to the government the amount of illegal drugs you sell. So they can't just send you a bill for your taxes. It is odd that every American has to suffer for this obscure corner case, but they probably lose a lot of revenue if they stop taxing drug dealers, so here we are.
- monocasa 5y ago
  Drug dealers aren't stupid enough to be reporting their incomes to the IRS, they're just getting an extra criminal charge when they get caught. It's not the IRS caring about losing revenue, but lobbying from tax firms that's the problem.
  - beardog 5y ago
    There's a corner-case to this corner case which is marijuana sales. Legal state vendors are technically violating federal law but the IRS still expects a cut from them, and the ones wanting to stay in good standing are certainly reporting.
    - monocasa 5y ago
      And, staying in context to the discussion, the IRS already knows about all of that from these companies' public state level filings.

rootusrootus 5y ago

> Intuit and other players I hate to defend Intuit, but this is backwards. It is more accurately "Other players and Intuit" where "Other players" means the Republican Party. Thanks to efforts by Grover Norquist, the GOP is fundamentally opposed to making it easier for the IRS to collect taxes. Intuit's lobbying efforts are practically meaningless in comparison.

Kye 5y ago
I think you're trying to draw a distinction where there isn't one. Who do you think lobbyists lobby?
monocasa 5y ago
The Democrats are also opposed to simplifying the tax system. Some of this is lobbying; some of this is the philosophical approach the third wayers running the party have to fixing .gov with more rules rather than less.

unosama 5y ago

I prefer an incompetent yet inconvenient government. Most of Europe also had a very effect "green passport" scheme where all medical information was logged and tracked whereas in the states such efforts have been a lot more difficult to enforce.

sofixa 5y ago
> Most of Europe also had a very effect "green passport" scheme where all medical information was logged and tracked Nope. A "green pass" is a QR code saying FirstName LastName (born on X, only available for border crossings) has had 3 doses of Pfizer, last one on date Y OR has had a negative PCR on date Y. The apps used to read and validate those QR codes don't track anything and there's no other medical or personal information.