If you have a standard 1 job W2, that is... literally what already happens, except even with less steps, since they already took the money out of my paycheck.

The 1 job W2 literally takes 15 minutes to fill out if so, and it is pretty much signing off that you didn't make a million dollars on the side that the IRS doesn't know about.

Except in the US you still have to file your taxes. They might be the simplest to do, but you still have to. Which typically means people end up using turbotax etc, and paying for the product.

Spain's equivalent is basically 'we know you have a kid and this income so here you so. just sign on the dotted line'

In the US you do not need to file if you are confident you don’t owe the IRS money, or if they owe you money and you don’t want the hassle to get it back. If you are able to setup withholdings to exactly match what you owe there is no reason to file. I have skipped filing a few times.

You are still supposed to file if you make over a certain (low) amount of money.

The US federal government (and particularly the IRS) doesn't know what kids you do or don't have.

Millions of American kids vanished when the IRS decided that to claim a kid you must provide a valid SSN. [1]

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/declaration-of-non-depende....

Considering they basically do this for the simplest tax forms: why are we supposed to assume Spain has a better system again? Is this just the typical “European = better” stance so prevalent online?

> Is this just the typical “European = better” stance so prevalent online?

Yes and is often the case, fully justified.

When it's the time to file taxes, you go to a government website that tells you all it knows about you - inheritances, donations, salaries, etc etc. You can add stuff if you want (e.g. special deductions), but for most people it's a matter of next next OK Finished. On a government website everyone knows (that send you a letter/email to remind you it's time), for free, and works for everyone regardless of complexity. Contrast that with the US where tou have to provide all the information yourself, but first you have to find filing software that you sometimes have to pay for (either because of your situation or because you were tricked by dark patterns).

It's honestly weird. Nobody likes taxes, that's why they should be as easy as possible to file and pay. The American model of adding middlemen for their benefit is going directly against that for no good reason.

While tax filing in the US might be more Byzantine, I’m happy with the trade off of paying lower taxes, relative to most countries with such streamlined taxes.

Put differently, if I’m paying very high tax rates, of course I’ll be doubly pissed off if it is also arduous to file.

The tax rates are comparable between the US and many EU countries, all things included. Yes, your sales tax is much lower than the usual 20% (for some things, often lower for essentials) VAT; your income tax might be lower in some cases, but when most people in the EU talk about "taxes" and "tax rates", healthcare plan costs are included in that, as well as pensions. When Americans talk about "taxes" and "tax rates", your premiums, deductibles and etc. aren't, and it's up to each individual to save money for retirement. According to some online sources the median tax rate is comparable between the the US and the OECD median for Europe.

And you also have non-insignificant property taxes.

You’re one of the people happy with no universal healthcare as well I bet

Except that’s not “the trade off.” As been discussed many a time on HN, companies like Intuit lobby the government to keep it full of friction.

I mean, Europe is indeed better for so many things, maybe you should travel a little?

You can do it with the IRS if you want.

I had a friend who barely filled out a 1040, sent it in and the IRS sent back a “corrected” 1040.

Of course I wouldn’t trust the IRSs numbers but if you pay it, you’re done.