In Idiot America our politicians (aka stupid fucking assholes) could make income tax time much less complex but they would rather get bribes to not do the right thing. I never met a American politician who wasn't a stupid fucking asshole.

• T.R. REID:

  I was in the Netherlands on March 31, the day before their taxes are due.

  I was with an executive who makes $200,000 a year, two mortgages, a lot of investments. He’d have to fill out 12 forms in America. I said, Michael, how do you pay your taxes? He pops a beer. He goes online. The government’s filled in every line. If the numbers look right, he clicks OK. It takes five minutes.

  And, in Japan, you get a postcard from the IRS that says, we think you made this much. We withheld this much. We owe you a refund of that much. We will put it in your bank on April 1. It takes one minute, if you think the numbers are right.

  And I said to my friend Togo, you know, in America, people spend hours, days filling out these forms. And he said to me, why would anybody want to do that?
• PAUL SOLMAN:

  And you explained to him nobody does.
• T.R. REID:

  I said, nobody does, yes.

  And guess what, Paul? We could do that here. The IRS could fill in every line of the return for most American families. They know all the numbers. Have you ever gotten a CP-2000 letter? This is the one that says, on line 48-Q, you entered $4,211.
• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Oh, yes, yes.
• T.R. REID:

  But, actually, it should have been $4,681.
• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Yes. Actually, yes, yes.
• T.R. REID:

  And I get that every year, and I think, why did I spend hours trying to fill this out, when they knew? And so some members of Congress have suggested that the IRS fill out the forms for us.
• And H&R Block and the tax software companies lobby against it. So here’s the deal:

  You do more work; they make more money.

  
  

  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dreading-taxes-countries-show-us-theres-another-way