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A comment on Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax Filing Process. Parent comment

Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by baudehlo on Wednesday March 29, 2017 @09:17PM (#13992126)
Most people in the U.K. (the only other place I have experience with) never file a tax return. It's just assumed that the government is doing the right thing. Taxes are taken at source for all things, and if you have things outside of the norm you can tell your employer about it and they'll take care of it.

Filing taxes was pretty alien to me. I'm used to it now, but it seems there are simpler ways.

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Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by dboreham on Wednesday March 29, 2017 @11:21PM (#13992602)
I'm familiar with the UK system too. It is possible to get closer to it in the US than most people realize. For example you can calculate the correct tax to withhold and instruct your employer's payroll people to do so. Most people seem to not know this or nor care and as a result end up over withholding and the resulting "refund". It is perfectly possible to end up with roughly correct tax withheld although you do of course still need to complete the 1040 form. But software can do that.
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Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by bluejekyll on Thursday March 30, 2017 @01:26AM (#13993135)
You need to be careful with this though, if you underpay throughout the year by too much, you will end up both owing and potentially have a tax penalty.
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Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by dboreham on Thursday March 30, 2017 @02:59PM (#13997969)
Of course. To be assessed a penalty you have to screw up pretty badly though, at least on the first try.
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Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by ryanwaggoner on Thursday March 30, 2017 @06:27AM (#13994209)
It's just assumed that the government is doing the right thing.

This strikes me as a recipe for disaster in the long run. For any group of people who have tremendous power, not just the government.

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Re:Stanford Professor Loses Political Battle To Simplify Tax... by fjdlwlv on Thursday March 30, 2017 @12:38AM (#13992943)
In the US that's called "nanny state". The US has a stronger tradition of citizens who think and act independently, even when they are working cooperatively.
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