Insane how many journalists they’ve killed. I still remember how fucked up it was when they bombed the Aljazeera building (and of course said that Hamas’ people were there)
Americans: demand from your government the responsibility to handle your taxes directly.
I’m in the EU, from a small country, and all tax forms have to be filed through government tax authority servers, running state designed programs.
I can hire a legion of accountants, a lawyer firm and third party to represent me and still everything will still go through the same channels.
Or I can simply use that same program, through the same website, with my secure credentials, and file my own taxes for free, calling the tax department whenever I have doubts on what I’m doing.
demand that your taxes supply you with the government services it supports
So I’m an American expat living in Australia. Australia has had the option to file directly to ATO, electronically, longer than I’ve been here. (Google suggests since 1999? So, more than 20 years.) It’s an easy process if you have a straightforward tax return.
It never ceases to amaze me how far behind the rest of the world USA is in some things that just seem like really obvious solutions. Like… Why wouldn’t the IRS want to get tax returns filed directly from the tax payers, skipping the middleman? At least for simple returns. More simplicity, less confusion all around if they get everyone onto the same system. Less paper to wade through, by significantly reducing paper returns. Etc.
It just seems like such a no-brainer. But I guess that’s why it doesn’t work in the USA. >.<
The article “conveniently” omits the names of pilot states and the eligibility criteria, so I dug them up:
The Direct File pilot is available to eligible taxpayers residing in Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.
You may be eligible to join the pilot if you live in a pilot state and report these items on your 2023 federal tax return:
Income
W-2 wage income
SSA-1099 Social Security and RRB -1099 railroad retirement income
1099-G Unemployment compensation
1099- INT Interest income of $1,500 or less
Credits
Earned Income Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
Credit for Other Dependents
Deductions
Standard deduction
Student loan interest
Educator expenses
The pilot is not an option for if you:
Have other types of income, such as gig economy or business income
Itemize deductions
Claim other credits like the Child and Dependent Care Credit, Saver’s Credit or the Premium Tax Credit
Derrick Plummer, a spokesman for Intuit, said taxpayers can already file their taxes for free and there are online free-file programs available to some people. Individuals of all income levels can submit their returns for free via the mail.
A “direct-to-IRS e-file system is a solution in search of a problem, and that solution will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars,” he said. “We will continue unapologetically advocating for American taxpayers and against a direct-to-IRS e-file system because it’s a bad idea.”
And who believes that crap anyway? Intuit markets their solution due to the complicated nature of anything outside of standard deductions and figuring out if you should itemize and how to do that.
Intuit has spent $25.6 million since 2006 on lobbying, H&R Block about $9.6 million and the conservative Americans for Tax Reform roughly $3 million.
Now if the states get on board for easy filing online, it'll be great.
They usually keep the “seat belts” light on during ascent and descent because it’s when air pressures are changing (or you might run into a tree, or another airplane), while once at cruise altitude it is reasonably safe to take the seat belt off.
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