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The real issue is that the tax industry is a large employer. There are about 80k full time tax preparers in the US, and several times that are hired seasonally
by ortusdux 4y ago
The real issue is that the tax industry is a large employer. There are about 80k full time tax preparers in the US, and several times that are hired seasonally. H&R block alone hires about 80k for Jan->April. The lobbyists only have to go into senator's offices and say "We created 14,000 jobs in your district, and this bill puts those in jeopardy". Our tax payment system is, in part, a taxpayer funded private jobs creation program.
- pclmulqdq 4y agoThe US tax code is longer than the C++ standard if you count only the laws that are active today. If you add on the rulings in IRS tribunals, clarifying papers, and other publications, the US tax code is something like 100,000 pages. It is easy to see a profession being established around learning to read that sort of thing. The solution to the tax prep industry isn't to have the IRS do your taxes for you, it's to reduce the size of the tax code.
- oblio 4y agoIt's both.
- CrendKing 4y agoWith how US govt uses tax (instead of other adhoc channels) to interact with citizens, let's be honest, reducing the size of the tax code is the least likely event to happen. It would require a complete change of paradigm in how the govt works to make it happen.
- pclmulqdq 4y agoNobody is incentivized to reduce the number of laws on the books, but I would vote for any politician whose position was "I will only repeal laws." The US government is obsessed with giving narrowly-targeted groups of people money through the most obtuse mechanism possible, and it is ridiculous. If you were just sent a check when you bought an EV (for example), a lot of the tax stuff would be much simpler.