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The US tax code is stupidly complex. There are over 500 changes a year made. That is just federal taxes. You are also affected by state, county and city laws

The US tax code is stupidly complex. There are over 500 changes a year made. That is just federal taxes. You are also affected by state, county and city laws. For all practical purposes, it is impossible to do the returns 100% correctly. Legislators use the tax code extensively to achieve things, from social good through corporate welfare and what most would consider outright corruption. Voters in areas may also add to laws with various funding initiatives (eg extra taxes to cover funding for school construction). Look at sales tax just for California - http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pam71.htm http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/pam71.htm - and that table of quicklinks should frighten you. That is just scratching the surface. For example sales tax for in person transactions is charged based on the address of the store. Unless you buy a car, in which case it is your home address. Two other factors apply. One is an American mentality that doing minor things against the law isn't that wrong, and being caught is where it becomes real. An example is speeding - it almost seems a contest of wits to not get caught, rather than fixing the limits or realising why they exist. Is it wrong to lie on your tax return about something, where the odds of getting caught are very low, and everyone else is doing it anyway? An example of that is how people call Amazon sales tax free because they are out of state. The supreme court says yes they are sales tax free (to not hinder interstate commerce), but then states charge a "use tax" which happens to be exactly the same as the sales tax. Very few people admitted to their out of state purchases since they were so unlikely to get caught. The final factor is a distrust of government. They are seen as plodding, corrupt, useless, expensive, political, uncaring and largely pointless. They are very rarely seen as an instrument of voter will. This is what provides the perennial source of jokes - the DMV (department of motor vehicles), the IRS, city hall and all that. Who would trust government to get things right? So tax returns turn into a contest. What do people think they get away with? Which of the many rules will they obey to the letter? What are their neighbours and others getting away with? Was that really a business lunch? How am I paying more tax than I need to? Despite their values, neither of the main two political parties do anything to fix this. They are however happy to keep adding to the piles of laws, which makes it more expensive to comply, and increasingly unfair. I often end up paying fines on my returns. This is not because I am a bad person, and I actually try very hard to get it all correct. It is just cheaper than doing some things the right way, and fairly normal! Some of those fines are also because I don't have a time machine, and I couldn't actually do things correctly without one. (Note that factors above are generalisations, and don't apply to every last person.)

s73v3r 12y ago
"The final factor is a distrust of government. They are seen as plodding, corrupt, useless, expensive, political, uncaring and largely pointless. They are very rarely seen as an instrument of voter will. This is what provides the perennial source of jokes - the DMV (department of motor vehicles), the IRS, city hall and all that. Who would trust government to get things right?" This I find to be the absolute dumbest reason of all. The IRS already knows everything about your income that you would be telling them anyway.
- rogerbinns 12y ago
  > The IRS already knows everything about your income that you would be telling them anyway. Not even close. For example they don't know how much you paid in state taxes, and which portions of that are also considered okay for fed taxes. Eg in California a portion of your annual vehicle registration fee can be taken against state taxes. Do the feds also allow that? They don't know what you consider business expenses. They don't know how much of your house you used for business purposes. They don't know where you resided during the year and the tax treatment of the various places you did live. They don't know about your moving expenses. They don't know about income you received in cash. They don't know about your Amazon purchases. They don't know about your medical expenses. They don't know about your losses. They don't know about your foreign income or assets. They don't know about dependents, or how they have changed. Or your marriage, or divorce. Or how you want your married taxes to be treated (there are at least two different ways). That is just scratching the surface of the tax relevant things - there are a huge amount more. As an individual you couldn't get your tax return 100% correct, and the government certainly can't. Edit: various institutions and employers are required to file information with the IRS. However this is big picture information - for example how much interest you were paid on your bank account, or what the employer paid you. They do not get individual transaction information, cash withdrawals or similar details.
  - jotm 12y ago
    I was under the impression that the IRS has access to all your bank account transactions (or rather, financial institutions are required to disclose that information)?

s73v3r 12y ago

"The final factor is a distrust of government. They are seen as plodding, corrupt, useless, expensive, political, uncaring and largely pointless. They are very rarely seen as an instrument of voter will. This is what provides the perennial source of jokes - the DMV (department of motor vehicles), the IRS, city hall and all that. Who would trust government to get things right?" This I find to be the absolute dumbest reason of all. The IRS already knows everything about your income that you would be telling them anyway.

rogerbinns 12y ago
> The IRS already knows everything about your income that you would be telling them anyway. Not even close. For example they don't know how much you paid in state taxes, and which portions of that are also considered okay for fed taxes. Eg in California a portion of your annual vehicle registration fee can be taken against state taxes. Do the feds also allow that? They don't know what you consider business expenses. They don't know how much of your house you used for business purposes. They don't know where you resided during the year and the tax treatment of the various places you did live. They don't know about your moving expenses. They don't know about income you received in cash. They don't know about your Amazon purchases. They don't know about your medical expenses. They don't know about your losses. They don't know about your foreign income or assets. They don't know about dependents, or how they have changed. Or your marriage, or divorce. Or how you want your married taxes to be treated (there are at least two different ways). That is just scratching the surface of the tax relevant things - there are a huge amount more. As an individual you couldn't get your tax return 100% correct, and the government certainly can't. Edit: various institutions and employers are required to file information with the IRS. However this is big picture information - for example how much interest you were paid on your bank account, or what the employer paid you. They do not get individual transaction information, cash withdrawals or similar details.
- jotm 12y ago
  I was under the impression that the IRS has access to all your bank account transactions (or rather, financial institutions are required to disclose that information)?