Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/17/misery-for-profit.html
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Misread that as Inuit and I was really confused and impressed.
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It would be almost fitting if First Nations people found a way to profit off of colonizers’ tax returns.
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See also an episode of Reply All that’s a great summary of the ProPublica piece.
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Me too and I was all kinda shocked.
Damn, Cory, what do you have against Eskimos?
Oh, Intuit. Right, excuse me, carry on.
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What would you even call an agency that represented voters? How would it present it’s advice and who would it advise? Certainly no living politician or political department would be interested w/o attached “donations”.
Paying tax in the US and ex-US every year brings into stark relief
just how awful the US tax system is designed.
Damn those billionaire political donors and the common voters that support them.
This is why we cant have nice things.
Filing the in the UK is ridiculously easy - almost all “average” employees don’t even have to give it a thought as it’s done at source and they do not need to file.
I have a weekday job and my own consultancy so I have to “Self Assess” my additional taxes on my self employed work.
It takes me a hour, I file online, the bill/rebate is shown before I submit, then I can pay any extra either direct from my normal salary or on account.
The last two years my profits have been minimal - I’m winding down - So last year they replied (automatically) , that I don’t need to bother next year - unless things change dramatically.
That and licensing/registering things like passports, cars and drivers have become so wonderfully simple in the last decade I’m sure it impacts on the nation’s efficiency (and maybe loses a few frontline jobs too .
> Will Marshall, president of the pro-business Progressive Policy Institute, opposed return-free filing in an op-ed in The Hill because doing one’s taxes is “a teachable moment [that] prompts us to review our financial circumstances.
Great, now I have mixed feelings about him escaping the Land of the Lost.
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Joe Bankman, a law professor at Stanford spent gobs of his own money trying to get California to adopt his proposed ReadyReturn.
Planet Money did a great episode on him earlier this year. Lobbying by Intuit did ReadyReturn in and I’ve been angry about it ever since. Joe was simply outspent by Inuit and the industry.
What he really needed was a wide-reaching crowd-funding platform. I figure if everybody who uses TurboTax, H&R Block, or some other income tax prep software or service, just donated $5 we could out-lobby Intuit and the lobbyists.
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