With the new year upon us, I think it is time to talk about something frustrating for millions of Americans a year, tax law. Laws are different everywhere, so I am going to just stick with the United States on this one simply because that is where I live. Despite what you think of taxes, most of us still have to pay them in some way and file with the government yearly. If you have ever done it before, you know it is usually a living hell, EVEN if you hire someone to do it for you. You basically send in your paperwork and cross your fingers hoping you don't get audited.
In a country with hundreds of millions of people, the tax code is so complex that many times even the professionals mess it up. There are hundreds of pages of new code implemented or changed a year making it almost impossible for everyone to catch up. To make things even more difficult, multiple organizations within the government disagree on how to tax certain things. For example bitcoin is still seen as a different thing in many parts of the government, meaning it would have to be taxed differently.
With a word of technology getting infinitely better, why cant we simplify our tax code so the average person can do it? I mean, the government knows roughly what we owe anyway in taxes, if they didnt , people who fudge numbers wouldn't get audited. There are many reasons why the tax code isnt simplified and many of them are actually because it goes against the best interests of others. Companies who make a living filing taxes for individuals and other companies lobby every year to make sure the tax code stays complex.
In addition, taxes are mostly a bipartisan issue when it comes to actually deciding what is taxed and by how much. Often a simple change in the tax code comes down to a massive debate, even if that change is a loop hole. There are still hundreds of loopholes in the tax code that people acknowledge are there, but unless both sides can agree to work together, things never end up getting changed. Those hurt the most in these situations are the middle class, those who pay enough in taxes, but cant hire multiple tax professionals to help them legally evade taxes.
If the loophole exists in the tax code, it isnt illegal, which is why we didnt see many Americans tied to illegally avoiding taxes in the Panama Papers, because we have legal ways of doing it. Unless both sides work together, our tax code will only become more and more complex, creating more of a gap between what the average person can afford to save and what the mega rich can. If we are forced to pay taxes, I personally want to be on a level playing field when it comes to figuring out what we have to pay.
-Calaber24p
