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Comment by saveferris | Hacker News Reader

There is a lot of things wrong with this but I have said that in order to get your tax refund you have to show proof you registered to vote. I'd like to say proof that you voted but that may be a step too far...

Agree, it should be easier not harder to register and to vote

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Did you happen to know that not everyone is required to file a federal income tax statement? The IRS does not require you to pay income tax, or file taxes, unless you make over $19,400 (as of 2022) https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501

It's really difficult to tell what percentage of people that applies to, but just for one example I got from Google, The Tax Policy Center estimates that 70 Million Americans do not need to pay income tax.

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/tpc-number-those-who-...

I am only half serious about that....should have pointed that out. Interesting links though. Correct that not everyone with income is required to file, though they should. I did not know the income level was that high though, would have guessed half that.

Just a guess but I think that overlap is probably pretty large. I would think the majority of people who don't owe taxes are due to lower incomes who would not be required to file and that is offset with deductions....purely a guess though.

Also, not everyone gets a refund. I haven't had a tax refund in about 30 years, because I arrange any withholdings to match my expected tax bill.

Tax refunds? What are those?

Not sure if you’re being facetious, but some of us have too much of our pay deducted from payroll throughout the year compared to our tax burden, so the IRS returns the extra money to us.

Why not adjust your withholdings to avoid that?

Sometimes you can’t because of the way deductions work.

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