Why We Hate Taxes, and Why Some People Want Us To

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That said, even if you do understand and appreciate the role of the government in your life, the process of actually paying your taxes is comically difficult in the United States. This is not an accident. Indeed, while many may be familiar with the idea of a nudge, the complexity of tax filing can be thought of as an example of nudge’s evil little brother—a “sludge.” That is, filing taxes is a process that is (arguably intentionally) more complicated, confusing, redundant, and annoying than it needs to be. For example, much of the information you provide when filing your taxes is information the federal government already has, from your name and address to your salary (in the comfortable majority of cases). Given that, why can’t tax filing be made simpler, by eliminating redundancies and making forms less confusing? Surely that would save all of us time and money. The reality is that (at least) two politically powerful groups have a vested interest in making tax filing as “sludgy” as possible: tax preparers and anti-tax interest groups intent on lowering taxes. Why? Well, tax preparers clearly benefit from an intentionally complicated tax filing process—it is good for business. In 2003, the IRS cut a deal with tax preparation companies like Intuit (TurboTax) and H&R Block, whereby it agreed to not create their own free filing system if those companies provided a free-filing option for lower-income Americans. Earlier this year the agreement was almost made permanent by Congress after lobbying by these same interest groups. This proposal should worry taxpayers. ProPublica recently uncovered the ways TurboTax and H&R Block actively hid free file options in search results. With only 3 percent of eligible filers taking advantage of the free file option, this might explain the exceptionally low take up rate.

https://behavioralscientist.org/why-...le-want-us-to/

The only things I know about what it's like to file a tax return for the ordinary US citizens come from watching stuff like The Simpsons. It certainly always seems weirdly difficult, starting with the fact that some ordinary employee like Homer would have to file, anyways.

Is this what that's all about?

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2KxZer8