SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 12 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
"...Filing your taxes has never been faster or easier, especially if you do it online....the DIY approach may cost little or nothing....Most of us prefer free software..." foxnews.com/tech/best-tax-software-to-use-in-2019
This one is a little like the Emmys. "Best site for DIY tax prep" is TurboTax. "Best online tax site if you need a little help" is H&R Block. "Best site for earning bonus points" is TaxAct. "Best tax prep site to protect your identity" is TaxSlayer. "Best tax site for experienced DIY-ers" is Jackson Hewitt.
And for those that are wondering, I do pay taxes. As little as possible!
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
A few hours grace before the madness begins again.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:40AM (24 children)
We should make them do our taxes, and send the filled in form for us to sign.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:51AM (6 children)
This is how it happens in developed countries, like Finland. Except we don't even have to sign the forms, just report if we disagree with what they present us with.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @06:06AM (4 children)
Perfect. Amazing what you can get just by demanding it.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:51AM (3 children)
How come you demanded for a modern tax system in Finland?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @11:27AM (1 child)
This is a very interesting question but unfortunately I don't know the answer. All I know is this system has been in use since 2006. Generally government works fairly smoothly and corruption is low.[*]
* E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perception_Index [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday March 12 2019, @10:00PM
Hmmm,
Canada is in the 90-100 range, although I'm thinking that it will drop just due to Trudeau.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --
(Score: 5, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 12 2019, @12:05PM
Estonia (where I now live, I used to live in Finland), invented itself from scratch 28 years ago, so not only started with a clean slate, but also had the concept of technology being an important part of how people do all kinds of business, including governmental obligations, right from the outset.
I "signed" my tax return last week. It took me 5 minutes. 4 minutes 50 seconds of that was scrolling up and down thinking "there must be something I should be doing with this form", 5 seconds was logging in, 5 seconds was clicking "submit". Next year, the process will take me 10 seconds. Got paid 1199e for the effort too, as apparently I was due a rebate - the beers are on me!
My g/f's a US citizen - I've seen the tomes she has to fill in every year (which do change slightly every year too, just to make sure there are gotchas). Advanced country? Sheesh.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday March 12 2019, @02:08PM
Worked like that in the Netherlands too, when I lived there in the 70's.
(Score: 5, Informative) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:43AM (11 children)
That was the plan, until TurboTax (Intuit) and H&R Block paid some money to the right people.
https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-block-intuit-lobbying-against-it [propublica.org]
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday March 12 2019, @12:13PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:10PM (8 children)
Which raises the question of who the US government is for?
You get to vote, but of course you don't really get a choice of who takes power.
Interestingly the Soviet Union outlawed all political parties except the one with all the power. The US has never gone to that trouble, but they've managed the same trick. But two is better than one I suppose.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:48PM (7 children)
You get to vote, but of course you don't really get a choice of who takes power.
Yeah they do, they just won't make even the feeblest effort. The non-voting block alone could change everything.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 12 2019, @09:24PM (6 children)
I'm not convinced they could, not when the two state-sanctioned parties prevent alternatives from gaining any ground.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @09:48PM (3 children)
That doesn't make sense. They can't force you to vote for them. It's as trivial as turning our backs. We can continue to play along to get along, or we can try something different. The choice ours to make, not the party's.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 12 2019, @10:23PM (2 children)
Yeah, I suppose you could, but I can't see how that would work.
Don't vote for them. Then what? Either the Democrat or Republican incumbent will win, but with fewer votes. They don't care about that.
Vote for a third party? That's a good idea, but in the 243 years you've been doing this you've never managed more than two parties.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:05AM (1 child)
Vote for a third party? That's a good idea, but in the 243 years you've been doing this you've never managed more than two parties.
Only for the lack of votes. That's not the party's fault. I mean, it is, they couldn't sell their product, but it's still on the voters to decide. There is no one else to blame. The voters are responsible for their choices. The system cannot work without acknowledging the fundamentals.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:55AM
That's true, and I am not sure what the answers are, but I live in a country with 1% of your population and 6 parties in parliament.
The UK even has first-past-the-post voting and they manage to have 8 parties.
Something else is going on in the US. Propaganda? Maybe, I'm not sure.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:14PM (1 child)
If, next election, every eligible voter who has not voted regularly for the past 12 years were to vote Green, then we would have a Green president. There wouldn't be room for the electoral college to screw it up. It wouldn't be 53% vs 47%. If all of them turned out and voted alike, their vote would win, something like 57% to 21% to 22%. That's how many people don't bother to vote. No after-the-vote tricks could overcome that kind of a margin.
I'm going to buy my defensive radar from Temu, just like Venezuela!
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:07PM
I'm sure you're right, but it seems like a forlorn hope at this point.
I would be very interested to see what would happen if voters did that though.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @08:58PM
TurboTax (Intuit) and H&R Block are playing by the rules. It is the voters that reward political corruption, with 95% reelection rates.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 12 2019, @10:48AM
That's how it happens here. The only time you need to do is fill out a form is if you're due a refund, but they're in the process of automating that as well.
The first time I got a 1040 + guide to filling it out I couldn't believe that this was how taxes in the US were done.
(Score: 5, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday March 12 2019, @12:29PM (2 children)
You're using the wrong definition of "service" for the context. In this instance it's "service" as in "I got my neighbor's bull over to service my cows last week,".
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday March 12 2019, @04:35PM
Not really. The cows want to be serviced.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 12 2019, @09:05PM
Yeah, "Internal" should have been the giveaway...
The old name was much more correct, Bureau of Internal Revenue, smells like... Russia!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 12 2019, @05:46PM
At least during the Obama years, they wanted to, bills were proposed to do just that.
H&R Block and TurboTax et al. lobbied to kill those bills.