2 ms·

Lobby certainly doesn't help but "just tell me what I owe" is not practical or possible, and is an overly simplistic view of everything about the system. Most i

by pc86 5y ago

Lobby certainly doesn't help but "just tell me what I owe" is not practical or possible, and is an overly simplistic view of everything about the system. Most importantly, the 1099 your client filed telling them you got paid more than $600 was due the same time your taxes were due, so they didn't know about it until after the fact. The feds have no idea how your deductions (and to a lesser extent, your income) have changed from the previous year. They don't have a full picture of your finances, but you do. In the abstract, with those constraints, the system of "tell us everything we need to know, pay us, and you get in trouble if you lie so egregiously that you get caught" works pretty well.

jefftk 5y ago
This is how taxes work in many other countries, and it's how taxes could work here if we were willing to make minor changes. For example, adjusting the deadlines you mention to be sequential would not be a hard change.
mlyle 5y ago
> but "just tell me what I owe" is not practical or possible Note that there's a whole lot of countries that send you a prepared tax return that you adjust if necessary, and most people don't need to. There's no fundamental reason we couldn't do this here. Indeed, California even did it for a couple years: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-was-experience-return-free-filing-california https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-was-exper...
eyelidlessness 5y ago
How is it not obvious this is a system designed for abuse favoring the most privileged abusers?
- pc86 5y ago
  Pretend it's not for a moment and make your argument?
shados 5y ago
A pretty damn large portion of people claim the standard deduction. They are paid on W2. Their investments are on 1099s. The cost basis are in supplemental documents that could easily be provided to the IRS in a format they can handle. Yeah, it doesn't work for everyone. So they could offer it to you, and you have the choice to click "ok", or to click "add additional income and deduction". If your situation is so crazy that neither of those options work, you can then do it the classic/hard mode way with an accountant. It's how it works in plenty of countries. The US is a bit unique with one of the more complex tax code in the world, but it would still work fine for a large portion of the population.

by pc86 5y ago

jefftk 5y ago

This is how taxes work in many other countries, and it's how taxes could work here if we were willing to make minor changes. For example, adjusting the deadlines you mention to be sequential would not be a hard change.

mlyle 5y ago

> but "just tell me what I owe" is not practical or possible Note that there's a whole lot of countries that send you a prepared tax return that you adjust if necessary, and most people don't need to. There's no fundamental reason we couldn't do this here. Indeed, California even did it for a couple years: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-was-experience-return-free-filing-california https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-was-exper...

eyelidlessness 5y ago

How is it not obvious this is a system designed for abuse favoring the most privileged abusers?

pc86 5y ago
Pretend it's not for a moment and make your argument?

shados 5y ago

A pretty damn large portion of people claim the standard deduction. They are paid on W2. Their investments are on 1099s. The cost basis are in supplemental documents that could easily be provided to the IRS in a format they can handle. Yeah, it doesn't work for everyone. So they could offer it to you, and you have the choice to click "ok", or to click "add additional income and deduction". If your situation is so crazy that neither of those options work, you can then do it the classic/hard mode way with an accountant. It's how it works in plenty of countries. The US is a bit unique with one of the more complex tax code in the world, but it would still work fine for a large portion of the population.