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This is how taxation should work in the U.S. if we were sane:
The end.
The IRS should be calculating what we owe. We shouldn't be doing that ourselves or hiring people to do it for us. Maybe we could finally get the wealthy to pay their fair share.
They do. That's why you occasionally get bills saying "hey you miscalculated by 70 bucks." They already do the work, they just still make us do it too for.... Reasons.
AKA Intuit lobbyists
Once for a whole year I would get a letter saying "You underpaid by $30, plz pay." So I would pay. Then I would get a letter saying "You overpaid by $30, here is check." So I would cash it. Then I would get a letter saying "You underpaid by $30, plz pay..." There were six or seven of those exchanges. I didn't cash the last check and the letters stopped coming. 🤷♂️
Or dispute it . This is how it's done almost everywhere else but the tax lobby have a best interest in this not working this way.
Or....you know bring back home ec classes that teach kids how to survive in the world instead of assuming parents will be able to do it
Sure, bring back home ec classes like that regardless, but that should also have no bearing on a saner taxation system. The one we have is ludicrous.
As an example of how this could work based on how it does where I live;
No muss, no fuss. If you've got an interest in a trust or own a company then it gets a bit more complicated and you might need an accountant to file for you, but for 95% of people it's free, happens automatically, and they aren't stuck with a big bill at the end of the year
yup. we should all be recieving a 2040x with the left hand side filled out already and we can optionally make the changes in the right hand side if we think its wrong.
Agree. Then TurboTax and other tax preparers wouldn't be able to rip us off to the tune of billions of $ too.
All info on the tax forms you use for your taxes could just be sent to the government instead, and they can calculate your taxes. That is how it works in most other countries.
Are you saying your taxes aren't taken out of your paychecks? Because they've always been taken out of mine. Seems like it's pretty easy for them to bill you based on that. And they can send the bill to whatever address is on your W-2.
Even if it only took you 15 minutes, and it sure takes a lot of people who get W-2s a lot more than 15 minutes... that's 15 minutes too long. Why should you have to do the government's job for it?
The government should already have a record of how much you've been paid every year. Why do they not have that record in your case? Do you not declare your income in whatever job you have?
Oh well. Guess you don't get to benefit from something everyone who isn't self-employed should benefit from.
Nah, let's leave the tax code impossibly complicated and easy for rich people to game on behalf of the handful of self-employed people in this country.
Tell you what, you keep doing your 15-minute taxes and the rest of us won't have to waste those 15 minutes. How's that?
No. I answered your question. They bill you based on your W-2. Except for the handful of self-employed people like yourself who will have to do it the hard way.
Why does it take a lot more than 15 minutes? I'll let this 30-page document from the IRS explain. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
And the U.S. population is 339.1 million, so you expect the tax code to revolve around less than 1% of taxpayers.
What information?
And how is it that many other countries are able to accomplish what I'm talking about?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-as-you-earn_tax
I like how you've gone from 'we can't possibly do this' to 'other countries do it, but I don't know how, so we can't possibly do this.'
Okay, if you weren't saying this wasn't doable, what on Earth was your point?
Yes, I know, you suggested that it couldn't be done in the U.S. but your only answer as to why it can't be done in the in the U.S. when it can be done in other countries is "I don't know how it works there," which is a cop-out. Your ignorance of how it works in other countries doesn't mean it can't work in the U.S.
You: "A bill for what? How do they know what to bill you for if you don’t tell them where and how you made and spent your money?"
Me: Here is a link to show you how other countries do it.
You: "I just said I don’t know how they do it so I can’t comment on it. I can only comment on the American tax system as an American taxpayer."
If that is not implying that it can't be done in the U.S., what did you mean? You apparently didn't even bother to look at the link to find out how it could be done.