Article 1, section 2 of the US Constitution prohibits direct taxation. If the IRS sends you a bill, that's becoming a little more 'directy' because they are just assuming that every single head had a W2 with no deductions outside of the narrow info that they know and now you have to proove them wrong. Whereas asking you what you think you should owe and giving you an opportunity to present all facts is more of a levy, and much more just. What this person is asking for on Stackexchange is just pure laziness and super narrow thinking about what activities one could potentially get involved with in one's life. Those who point toward H&R block as being at fault: well yes they would certainly want to maintain a horrible IRS UX, but that is completely separate from how taxes are levyed, which is constitutional. Also I love Sweden but just because Sweden does it does not mean automatically the best solution.