13 States join the IRS direct-file test after tax prep firms dropped the ball

Re:13 States join the IRS direct-file test after tax prep fi... by onetimeusename on Thursday October 19, 2023 @12:30PM (#37945035)

I think it is deliberately made difficult as a backdoor way to raise more money through penalties and interest fees. Additionally, since the odds are so high that the average person making above $200K has made an error, it can be used as blackmail.

On a global scale, complex taxes are actually not uncommon and the US fares well. I'd like to see a comparison of government corruption with tax complexity. For example, it seems that most South American countries are considered to have very complex taxes.

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Re:13 States join the IRS direct-file test after tax prep fi... by naasking on Thursday October 19, 2023 @12:38PM (#37945144)

> I think it is deliberately made difficult as a backdoor way to raise more money through penalties and interest fees.

No, you have it backwards. Politicians don't want to make it difficult, they want a simple, stable revenue stream. But in the attempt to do so, commercial interests carve out convoluted exceptions for themselves to preserve revenue and make it more difficult for incumbents to challenge them. The lobby that ensues skews political incentives, and that's why it gets convoluted.

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Re:13 States join the IRS direct-file test after tax prep fi... by onetimeusename on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:01PM (#37947129)

> they want a simple, stable revenue stream

I don't buy this. The IRS collected tens of billions in just one year in civil penalties. https://www.irs.gov/statistics/collections-activities-penalt.... Politicians asked for more money for the IRS to increase revenue. I don't buy that this is because all that revenue is from criminal cases especially if lobbying can easily change the tax code.

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