I did my own taxes for the first few years after graduating from college. I wasn't making much money, I had plenty of free time, and there was something satisfying about filling out the forms. But I haven't done that in a long time. For most of my adult life, like most Americans, I have paid a company every year to help me file my taxes. This has always struck me as odd. Why should we have to pay someone to help us pay the government? But I didn't appreciate the full absurdity until I started learning about the way taxes are paid in the rest of the world. For instance, here's a memorable description of the tax filing process for a businessman in the Netherlands: "He pops a beer, he goes online, the government's filled in every line. If the numbers look right, he clicks OK. It takes 5 minutes." In Japan, the government sends postcards to taxpayers. If the information is right, there's no need to respond. In Sweden some people receive text messages from the government with their basic tax information. Filing is as simple as answering "yes." Why isn't filing taxes in the United States free and easy, too? I teamed up with the video journalist Johnny Harris to create an Opinion video answering that question. We found that the federal government has been trying since the mid-1980s to create an easy online system for paying taxes. The main obstacle? Here's a hint: You won't find H & R Block tax preparation offices on the shopping streets in the Netherlands. There is no Japanese version of TurboTax. There's just the government, doing its job.
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Saturday, February 10, 2024
Opinion Today: There’s a tax season villain, and it’s not the I.R.S.
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