Warp wrote:
>   Is it really so that in the US, the UK and other places everybody has
> to explicitly fill out tax forms each year, specifying all their income,
> tax reductions, etc?

Yeah. I saw recently someone calculated that 60% of everyone could get 
away with just filling out on the tax form that which had already been 
reported to the government.

>   (Of course for employers it's a completely different matter, but normal
> people don't have to worry about that.)

I'm always amazed how much overhead there is for employers to pay taxes. 
Call it 10x the paperwork for each employee as the employee ever sees. 
Even if you're the only employee of the company. Try to start a 3-person 
company and you have practically no choice but to hire some outside 
company to do the employment paperwork in the USA.

>> [Why do they make them so complicated? Is it a conspiracy to ensure you 
>> get them wrong and hand over more money than you're supposed to??]
> 
>   You mean there are no tax returns where you live? That would be odd.

It's complicated so the legislature can favor particular people and 
companies and behaviors over others. And then when the rules interact 
poorly and let some subset of people get away with having lots of money 
and no taxes, they put together a second set of rules to deal with that.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
  Helpful housekeeping hints:
   Check your feather pillows for holes
    before putting them in the washing machine.

Post a reply to this message