It is batshit insane that we need to file taxes ourselves.
How do we not just get an invoice from the government every year?
@LouisIngenthron foreign income and other complicated situations are one reason why it can't be completely automated. Lobbying/corruption by tax software companies is another.
For what it's worth, it's much easier in France than in the US. i.e. the threshold where you need to pay someone to get it done is much higher in France.
@mjambon Right, but the former covers like less than 1% of taxpayers presumably. If you're doing weird financial stuff to minimize your tax burden, then yeah, you should be required to file. But the vast majority of us have already had all our income reported to the IRS for us.
@LouisIngenthron Congress lobbying is a US specificity and so far I've been happy with blaming it but it's not something I studied closely.
@LouisIngenthron yeah. I think the example of the French government getting it done is a good example that it could be done in the US as well. You still need to click some buttons but the forms are all pre-filled for you and of course, it's free. This online service works better than many French companies's websites. It's extremely surprising to me. There must be cultural and historical factors I'm not aware of.