"Like the universe itself, the United States tax code is ever-expanding, and no one can claim to know its exact size. There are statutes enacted by Congress; implementing regulations issued by the Treasury Department; rules from the Internal Revenue Service explaining how other rules apply to specific circumstances; and a patchwork of court decisions that may or may not supersede everything else, depending on who you ask. All told, these impenetrable documents could total 40 million words. Imagine seven-hundred copies of Masters of Atlantis, stacked six stories tall."
"In dozens of other countries, governments make it easy for people to navigate labyrinthine tax laws. Ordinary wage-earners receive a pre-filled return from the state, and they can either sign or dispute it. Americans have different, decidedly worse options. We can white-knuckle our way through a mess of hard-copy paperwork, pray we didn't make any errors, and file via mail. Or, if we want the convenience of calculating and submitting our returns electronically, we can pay a tax-prep monopolist to do it for us."
"This is lunacy. Find the nearest third-grader. Tell them they have homework, and they will be sent to prison if they don't complete it. Then explain that the best way to do so requires spending money, perhaps several hundred dollars, on homework-submission software. They would, quite justifiably, lose their mind. Adults, on the other hand, have grown numb to this kind of petty extortion, spending an average of 13 hours and $290 on filing their taxes, each and every year."
"From 2022 to 2024, a small team of misfit technologists inside the federal government tried to create an alternative. Overcoming political opposition, industry lobbying, and a civil service still traumatized by the calamitous rollout of healthcare.gov, they built a first-of-its-kind platform, called Direct File, that helped Americans file their taxes from a phone or computer. The software was free and easy to use. Some 98 percent"
The U.S. tax code is extremely large and difficult to navigate, consisting of statutes, regulations, IRS rules, and court decisions that can conflict or supersede each other. The total body of tax-related documents could reach tens of millions of words. Many other countries provide pre-filled returns and allow taxpayers to sign or dispute them, while Americans face harder options such as filing paper returns or paying private companies to prepare electronic filings. This process consumes significant time and money. From 2022 to 2024, a federal team built Direct File, a free platform that lets eligible Americans file from a phone or computer, aiming to reduce complexity and cost.
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