• jordanlund@lemmy.world
    585·
    7 个月前

    It should be super simple… We have all the math to make it happen, just take the correct amount out of people’s checks and leave them the fuck alone.

    Don’t put your hand in my pocket 26 times in a year then come to me at the end and go “(Blush), sorry, I took too much/too little.”

    Take the right amount, leave me the fuck alone.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
      8·
      7 个月前

      It’s a little more complicated because of itemization.

      The standard deduction should be pretty simple. For people that give a bunch of money to accountants … you’re probably better off just taking the standard deduction anyways. But eh maybe not.

      In theory itemization is a good option, it does save me some money, and there’s very little way for the government to know that I e.g. donated to X and that reduces my tax burden by Z. My neighbor tells me back in the day you could itemize a lot more stuff, but those days are gone.

      Definitely support the IRS providing some free tax filling software at the very least. There’s really no reason electronically filing should cost all the money it does to go through e.g. TurboTax and scare you with the up selling to protect you from audits or XYZ thing.

    • Gigan@lemmy.world
      104·
      7 个月前

      just take the correct amount out of people’s checks and leave them the fuck alone.

      Isn’t this how it works for most people with a W2? It only gets complicated when you start adding dependents or starting side businesses.

      • cerement@slrpnk.net
        231·
        7 个月前

        they take the appropriate amount out but they don’t “leave me the fuck alone” – you still gotta fill out all the paperwork and file your taxes

        pretty much every other country in the world, come tax season, just sends out a receipt for you to sign …

          • WraithGear@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            7 个月前

            Oh yea, it comes with a 14 page PDF in small print that tells you what each field contains using the most obtuse verbiage. Then with a simple click of a button it does simple arithmetic to calculate all the numbers you plug in. But you don’t have any help on deductions. Is a thrift savings plan a Roth? Depends on when the savings plan gets taxed. Is it taxed? When i put money in or pull money out, but before or after i turn retirement age, which goes up every few years. Input all the taxes you didn’t pay by buying things online. Does livelihood depend on tips for some ungodly reason? Hope you did well because the government kinda just averages a guess how much you should be tipped. For the love of god don’t add BA though BH unless something you would know when if so. And that’s the 1040ez

          • cerement@slrpnk.net
            3·
            7 个月前

            … sort of … we can do it for free now instead of having to pay a tax preparer but there’s still the matter of having to fill out all the paperwork – we haven’t reached the stage of the rest of the world of just signing the pre-filled tax bill

        • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          2·
          7 个月前

          pretty much every other country in the world, come tax season, just sends out a receipt for you to sign

          What? Where? Definitely not in Germany nor Switzerland. I thought tax declarations where pretty much standard anywhere.

      • HiddenLychee@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 个月前

        Not if you take any form of assistance, make any purchases for a business/education, get income from multiple places, work in multiple states, have health insurance, or even received tax credit from a previous year where the government took too much.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
      26·
      7 个月前

      All employers report income and deduct taxes from paychecks directly, so the government knows how much you have paid.

      What they don’t know is if you’ve won a lottery, sold a service or have someone bunking at your place paying rent. This you need to declare yourself.

      In the UK the rule is: we will assume you have nothing else, please let us know if you have additional income

      In the US (and Canada) the rule is: we will assume you have a lot of shit, please let us know even if you don’t have additional income.

      The US system stems from Conservatives having nothing other to run on than “people are going to grift and if you’re an honest employed american you have nothing to worry about”. Which is a measure that mostly affects the poor and those who don’t know the law.

      The same reason healthcare was tied to employers. They convince people nothing could go wrong because only those working should have healthcare. Which we can all see is insane but looks good on paper.

      • cerement@slrpnk.net
        10·
        7 个月前

        (lottery is probably a bad example – both US and Europe, lottery winnings are more heavily tracked and reported than sales or income tax)

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
      4·
      7 个月前

      If by freedom you mean incessant bribes/lobbying from Intuit, HR Block, and other tax companies to keep it confusing, you’re right.

  • Telodzrum@lemmy.world
    164·
    7 个月前

    Knowing the correct solution and knowing whether or not a solution is correct are not the same thing. Doesn’t really apply here, but it’s important to remember.

  • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
    7·
    7 个月前

    In Belgium its almost completely hands-off

    It gets calculated for you, although you can check it if you like to make sure.

    It usually is correct, in which case you don’t have to do a thing.

    • egonallanon@lemm.ee
      2·
      7 个月前

      Likewise in the UK for standard wage workers. Only gets more complicated if you have investments outside and ISA or multiple sources of non-labour income.