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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 colle
by 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