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Comment by jcfariadias | Hacker News Reader

In Portugal, every transaction should, by law, be sent to the tax authority. Every employer should also report what paid to their employees and also retain in source part of the income

Everything is then setup centraly by tax authority which enables the process of submiting tax reports being automatic for most or either, if you have a more complex tax situation, taking you a couple hours tops to self-fill and submit.

It's rather surprising how progressive USA can be in some fields but so far behind in others...

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> every transaction should, by law, be [reported to the gov.]

Conceptually, and in principle, this freaks a lot of Americans out. But the burden of not doing it is exceeding the alternative, I think. While it may be progressive to automate tax filing, having the government know everything about your financial transactions without proper cause is not considered very progressive (I guess it depends on what you are trying to progress towards).

It's the only (that I know of) way to avoid tax evasion and paralel economy.

There are incentives (tax deductions) that are granted to citizens who ask for invoices with their fiscal details

It is indeed progressive because it unburdens citizens from a massive yearly headache when submiting taxes. It's progressive because it avoids physical printing of receipts, thus reducing waste and paper consumption. It is progressive because less tax evasion means more taxes to apply in free healthcare and social security.

Having people not dying because they can't afford insurance, or being restful that the state will cover up part of their expenses if they can't work (for eg: if they have a flu and can't work for a week) seems pretty progressive to me and a good tradeoff for leting the government know about a few purchases you make.

Also, if you want go paperless, your bank also knows about all your financial transactions and I don't see people caring too much about it as they care with government...

wow, we went to "we need to do it or people will die" pretty quickly there. XD

Ehm you have spy agencies which knows what you had for a dinner yesterday. Who cares about taxes then?

I'm from CZ and we have an electornic tax filling only for a few years. You're light years ahead of us in this.

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