Re:IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Com...
by harryh on Tuesday December 31, 2019 @08:55PM
(#21926129)
Corporate tax policy has no impact on the complexity of individual taxes. It's two completely independent sets of rules.
Your theory is wrong.
Re:IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Com...
by awb on Tuesday December 31, 2019 @09:58PM
(#21926351)
Tax deductions for retirement, mortgages, etc. are tax code complexity that benefit the financial and real estate industries.
Even if it could be done simpler, TurboTax and other tax prep companies will lobby against it.
You'd be hard pressed to find any government financial policy that isn't tied to business interests. The tax code is no exception.
I've never heard anyone promoting the idea of keeping taxes complicated to avoid higher taxes.
There's nothing inherent in complicated taxes that stops the government from raising rates.
Conservatives have long wanted the flat tax (file taxes on the back of a postcard) and lower taxes, so simpler lower taxes.
I think the reason it became so complicated was because businesses lobbied for special rules and tax breaks that made things complicated in the first place. Businesses are now setup to take advantage of these loopholes (Amazon passing $0 in taxes, etc.).
TurboTax was built as a result of complicated taxes and they lobby heavily against a simplified tax code.
It's not some cabal of citizens wanting to keep taxes complicated, it's the industries that benefit from the current tax code that wants to keep it this way.