Comments on: Obama: Let the IRS Do Your Taxes

By: Mike Thomas

Mike Thomas — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:00:37 +0000

Most people don’t itemize their deductions because they don’t make enough money for it to make a difference. They take the standard deduction.
When my wife and I got married we didn’t have any big medical expenses nor did we make significant charitable donations. We were just scraping by and quickly found that we were better off taking the standard deduction rather than itemizing. Only recently now that we make more money and have lots of childcare expenses does it make enough of a difference.
The government is not going to itemize for you. If you think that itemizing is beneficial to you, then you will not choose to have the government do your taxes. But since most people do take the standard deduction, that won’t matter. The only thing the government needs to know to figure your taxes is how much money you make.
And no, Obama is not proposing that we do away with the current system. They are simply trying to make it easier for people to pay their taxes on time and save money for the government. What’s wrong with that?

By: Jean

Jean — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 00:19:45 +0000

I haven’t looked at Obama’s proposal, but tax filings are not that simple. Until we eliminate the itemized deductions and adopt the gross income tax system, IRS can’t possibly have all of our personal tax data to complete our tax returns. Examples of information IRS wouldn’t have are medical expenses and charitable contributions. Which brings us to another question: Is Obama proposing to do away with our current system? If so, is this really a better and fairer way to compute taxes? Another point: filing an amended tax return sometimes triggers an audit. So if IRS made a mistake, a taxpayer not only has the burden of proof, he/she also may get audited. Think about that! I’d rather do my own taxes and get it right the first time around!

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:06:38 +0000

Mike, my problem is that once taxpayers get into the habit of just waiting for the government to do it for them, chances are they’ll also stop checking the IRS’s numbers and any errors will go uncorrected. Also, it’s just one more thing that the government is trying to control, putting the government well on its way to being a nanny state.

Simply put, IT ISN’T THE GOVERNMENT’S JOB TO DO INDIVIDUALS’ TAX RETURNS.

By: Mike Thomas

Mike Thomas — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:20:19 +0000

This sounds like a great plan! I don’t understand what your problem is with it. If you don’t trust the IRS, you can still do your taxes yourself the old-fashioned way. But I suspect that millions of people will opt for this simplified version.
I think you have a point that if the government does the return for you, you should not be subject to any penalties resulting from their mistakes. But I think that can be easily accommodated in the legislation that would set this up.
And, as the Boston Globe editorial points out… “Obama’s simple returns would be LESS subject to human error than the existing system.”

By: Martin Marinelli

Martin Marinelli — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 03:11:22 +0000

I do not know of anyone who would allow such important financial information to be handled by an entity who only gets it right six to seven times out of ten.

The senator’s idea has disaster written all over it.