IRS will look into setting up a free e-filing system

Re:IRS will look into setting up a free e-filing system by pclmulqdq on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @07:37PM (#32758801)

The US tax code is longer than the C++ standard if you count only the laws that are active today. If you add on the rulings in IRS tribunals, clarifying papers, and other publications, the US tax code is something like 100,000 pages. It is easy to see a profession being established around learning to read that sort of thing.

The solution to the tax prep industry isn't to have the IRS do your taxes for you, it's to reduce the size of the tax code.

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Re:IRS will look into setting up a free e-filing system by CrendKing on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @09:53PM (#32760048)

With how US govt uses tax (instead of other adhoc channels) to interact with citizens, let's be honest, reducing the size of the tax code is the least likely event to happen. It would require a complete change of paradigm in how the govt works to make it happen.

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Re:IRS will look into setting up a free e-filing system by pclmulqdq on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @10:13PM (#32760209)

Nobody is incentivized to reduce the number of laws on the books, but I would vote for any politician whose position was "I will only repeal laws."

The US government is obsessed with giving narrowly-targeted groups of people money through the most obtuse mechanism possible, and it is ridiculous. If you were just sent a check when you bought an EV (for example), a lot of the tax stuff would be much simpler.

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Re:IRS will look into setting up a free e-filing system by oblio on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @09:09PM (#32759719)

It's both.

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