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>if the IRS knows I owe the money better than I do, then why am I involved with this at all? Well they made an extra $1k by doing it this way. Maybe if you'd

>if the IRS knows I owe the money better than I do, then why am I involved with this at all? Well they made an extra $1k by doing it this way. Maybe if you'd have lawyered up you could have got them down to $500 but the point still stands. Sure, the database and the developers and mailing the letters isn't free but you need to have basically all that overhead regardless of whether they're sending you a bill or a fine. The incentive is there. On top of that, it costs them nothing to make you file your taxes. In fact they probably rake in a whole boat load of money from all the people who report things the IRS didn't know about or didn't have enough sophistication to attribute to them.

schnable 2y ago
Are the high level policies of the IRS really incentivized to generate extra revenue via fines? I think its more likely a statute or policy issue and then collecting on underpayment is incentivized downstream. If the IRS could just send a bill (or withhold), the way activism and the media work in the US, the first time a sympathetic family is overcharged and just files based on what they told they were told, all the pressure will move back towards the status quo. The root issue here is the complexity of the tax code (generally bad) and the decentralization of financial institutions (generally good).
- potato3732842 2y ago
  >Are the high level policies of the IRS really incentivized to generate extra revenue via fines? I think its more likely a statute or policy issue and then collecting on underpayment is incentivized downstream. ROI on the IRS's budget is a pretty frequently cited talking point in their favor so there's probable at least some pressure to keep it that way lest that point in their favor go stale. >If the IRS could just send a bill (or withhold), the way activism and the media work in the US, the first time a sympathetic family is overcharged and just files based on what they told they were told, all the pressure will move back towards the status quo. Yeah, the media would do their usual thing and peddle fear. I think the benefit to the average person is so big that it wouldn't matter though. >The root issue here is the complexity of the tax code (generally bad) and the decentralization of financial institutions (generally good). I lay a lot of blame at the feet of the people who've normalized a tax break/penalty for any and every pet issue. Intuit is evil, sure, but they're capitalizing on and perpetuating a status quo they didn't create
ac29 2y ago
> Well they made an extra $1k by doing it this way. Not really, the treasury had to borrow $7000 for over a year that they wouldnt have had to otherwise, which isnt free.
- potato3732842 2y ago
  Gross vs net.

schnable 2y ago

Are the high level policies of the IRS really incentivized to generate extra revenue via fines? I think its more likely a statute or policy issue and then collecting on underpayment is incentivized downstream. If the IRS could just send a bill (or withhold), the way activism and the media work in the US, the first time a sympathetic family is overcharged and just files based on what they told they were told, all the pressure will move back towards the status quo. The root issue here is the complexity of the tax code (generally bad) and the decentralization of financial institutions (generally good).

potato3732842 2y ago
>Are the high level policies of the IRS really incentivized to generate extra revenue via fines? I think its more likely a statute or policy issue and then collecting on underpayment is incentivized downstream. ROI on the IRS's budget is a pretty frequently cited talking point in their favor so there's probable at least some pressure to keep it that way lest that point in their favor go stale. >If the IRS could just send a bill (or withhold), the way activism and the media work in the US, the first time a sympathetic family is overcharged and just files based on what they told they were told, all the pressure will move back towards the status quo. Yeah, the media would do their usual thing and peddle fear. I think the benefit to the average person is so big that it wouldn't matter though. >The root issue here is the complexity of the tax code (generally bad) and the decentralization of financial institutions (generally good). I lay a lot of blame at the feet of the people who've normalized a tax break/penalty for any and every pet issue. Intuit is evil, sure, but they're capitalizing on and perpetuating a status quo they didn't create

ac29 2y ago

> Well they made an extra $1k by doing it this way. Not really, the treasury had to borrow $7000 for over a year that they wouldnt have had to otherwise, which isnt free.

potato3732842 2y ago
Gross vs net.