Americans as a whole are very stupid and don’t realize that the overwhelming majority of them can file for free. In fact, 100% of Americans can self-file (for free) if they can handle about an hour of basic paperwork, but for 70% of Americans, you can file taxes for free in less than twenty minutes. It’s not hard at all.
But most people would rather Google “how to file taxes,” click on the first sponsored link they see, and buy something before they ever actually try to do even a minute of research.
I’m not saying that filing in the US takes zero effort whatsoever, but you have some deeper problems if you don’t think five questions like “What does Box A on your paper form say?” isn’t just as easy.
You’re saying, “My car has 500 horsepower. That’s what fast is” to a guy with a 499hp car.
Yeah. Basically, we get a pre-filled form with most of what can automatically filled in, already filled in. Of course some stuff like donations (which are deductible) and other stuff that are not automatically linked to you have to be added by hand, but for a vast majority of people there is no such thing.
So basically, open the pre-filled form, check that the incomes and your current situation is correct, send it back, then you basically get the amount (which can be either automatically collected through direct debit at a given date, split monthly, or paid manually).
We usually argue about why and how much tax we pay, but I never had any heated discussion about the tax system itself.
Damn y’all Americans really do taxes weird
It’s because our country is a corporate oligarchy.
Sounds cooler than it is
And it doesn’t even sound cool…
Sounds uncool as hell
Americans as a whole are very stupid and don’t realize that the overwhelming majority of them can file for free. In fact, 100% of Americans can self-file (for free) if they can handle about an hour of basic paperwork, but for 70% of Americans, you can file taxes for free in less than twenty minutes. It’s not hard at all.
But most people would rather Google “how to file taxes,” click on the first sponsored link they see, and buy something before they ever actually try to do even a minute of research.
Tbf as a Swede I just log in, glance at the forms, sign and log out. That’s what easy is.
I’m not saying that filing in the US takes zero effort whatsoever, but you have some deeper problems if you don’t think five questions like “What does Box A on your paper form say?” isn’t just as easy.
You’re saying, “My car has 500 horsepower. That’s what fast is” to a guy with a 499hp car.
It’s more like comparing an automatic gearbox to a manual IMO
Removed by mod
Canada does this too. Do other countries just tell you? That’d be nice.
My country just tells you.
Yeah. Basically, we get a pre-filled form with most of what can automatically filled in, already filled in. Of course some stuff like donations (which are deductible) and other stuff that are not automatically linked to you have to be added by hand, but for a vast majority of people there is no such thing.
So basically, open the pre-filled form, check that the incomes and your current situation is correct, send it back, then you basically get the amount (which can be either automatically collected through direct debit at a given date, split monthly, or paid manually).
We usually argue about why and how much tax we pay, but I never had any heated discussion about the tax system itself.