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Comment by jacobolus | Hacker News Reader

It’s not really about making people more or less aware of what they are paying.

The point is to make filing taxes as time consuming and obnoxious (and therefore emotionally painful) as possible, ideally without the public connecting the dots and getting outraged.

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The point is to enrich Intuit and other tax preparers that lobbied for this.

These anti-tax activists seem to be playing the role of Useful Idiots for the much more substantial reason 1, bearing in mind that the very existence of such companies making tax filing easier does indeed destroy point 2 entirely (in addition to the what OP pointed out which also takes away any credit this idea might have had).

From a european perspective, having tax returns that are not pre-filled, and having a tax administration that doesn't strive to make payment as easy and quick as possible is nonsensical. Why would the state not want its services to replenish its coffers in the fastest most efficient way possible?

As a former US student, and paying my student loans.. I also cannot easily _pay_ them while living abroad. It requires I pay fees to transfer money to a bank account, and pay directly from this account. I cannot use an overseas account nor a credit card or paypal etc. So on top of the ridiculous amount they want, I have to pay money to even pay money.

For most people the state gets paid every payday from automatic employer withholdings. If your withholdings are much lower than the obligation then you may pay interest penalties. So it’s not really necessary from a cash flow perspective but still would be much more efficient.

> Why would the state not want its services to replenish its coffers in the fastest most efficient way possible?

The humans who make up the state are more keen to replenish their own personal coffers in the fastest, most efficient way possible -- good old fashioned graft. No one with significant power personally benefits from an efficient IRS with a pleasant user experience.

The thing is that the form 1040 is laugably straigbtforwards to fill out. If intuit has had any success, its in convincing people that filing their own tax returns is more complicated than it is

This is only true if you don't own anything, never make any contributions, don't have any investment accounts, and don't have any self-employment income. Otherwise the 1040 is a huge pain in the ass requiring forms within forms and raising tons and tons of nebulous questions about your exact status within the legal definitions.

I wouldn't assume that the people who pay for tax preparation every year are idiots.

I make 401(k) and IRA contributions, have been self-employed (and yes, had to file quarterly returns), have several investment accounts. It's still straightforwards. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to fill out these forms. The IRS provides copious documentation and even has a phone line...

Please stop assuming the guy you're talking to on Hacker news is a simpleton.

That's for point 1. Point 2 is a completely different camp.

Point 2 is after-the-fact rationalization so they don't have to admit point 1 in public.

I think it’s actualy both

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