EDIT: A lot of you are reading into the tweet while still somehow agreeing with the overall message. No one is saying we should eliminate music programs or that we should teach toddlers about healthcare plans. The tweet is making this thing called a --checks notes-- joke, that also conveys the message that schools could teach more practical skills that young adults will need going forward.
Schools teach mathematics, reading comprehension, and how to follow instructions. With those 3 skills people can do their taxes. We used to do it with a paper form and a paper book full of instructions. Now there are programs that do pretty much everything for you, all you need to do is answer questions. If you can’t figure out how to do taxes then you have a bigger problem than the schools not directly teaching you how. As far as understanding all of the intricacies of US tax law, that is a much larger, more complex issue than they would or could reach in general education. There are entire university programs for that education.
Or we could just do it like every other civilized country in the world where they give you a number of what you owe and you say “looks good” or “I don’t think so”.
Thanks to the magic of lobbying we have the privilege of having to endure smart comments like yours!
I’m not defending our tax system, I’m saying that with a remedial education you can figure out how to file your taxes. I agree that our system is overly complex to benefit the wealthy. It would be great if they just told us what we owe and we confirm it. But given the system we have, you can figure out how to file your taxes. It’s not that difficult for an average person, in an average situation.
Let’s say I’m married filing separately with a mortgage, student loans, on my wife’s insurance but with my own job where I pay for a Flexible spending account for diabetes supplies. My wife also has student loans, some federal, some private. Let’s say we have a kid and pay for daycare but wife missed open enrollment for dependent care spending account. Maybe we even have our employer cover part of daycare in this scenario, let’s say 25%, but it didn’t kick in until 4 months into the year. Just for fun maybe one of us cashed out an old retirement.
How confident are you that you could handle that situation if you had only gotten a “remedial” education? This is not a super unique scenario even.
Pretty confident, because there are instructions for everything, and there are free web based filing systems that will ask you those questions, and put the values in the correct spots. Free Tax Act is one such application. But what you described is far from an average person, filing an average claim. Many of those circumstances are unique.
Free Tax Act is great for filing jointly or as a single person. It absolutely will let you fail extremely hard if you file separately.
Edit: this might not be true I used free tax USA.
Just want to sneak in I admire your faith in people’s ability, whether I agree with it or not.
Oop! Free Tax USA is the one I was thinking of too.
Hehe. Thanks (I think). I have been accused of over-estimating people’s competence on more than one occasion, so I concede that it’s entirely possible that I’m wrong about this subject.
And maybe a dramatically simpler tax code?
Sure, and since laws are just writing you don’t need lawyers at all, everyone can just represent themselves. In fact, why do specialties exist at all? Programming is just typing, and everyone can type, so everyone can program. Surgery is just cutting things, so if you can use a knife, you can be a surgeon.
I mean, how could someone not easily know what to do when given such clear instructions as:
"Refigure your depletion deduction for the AMT. To do so, use only income and deductions allowed for the AMT when refiguring the limit based on taxable income from the property under section 613(a) and the limit based on taxable income, with certain adjustments, under section 613A(d)(1). Also, your depletion deduction for mines, wells, and other natural deposits under section 611 is limited to the property’s adjusted basis at the end of the year, as refigured for the AMT, unless you are an independent producer or royalty owner claiming percentage depletion for oil and gas wells under section 613A©. "
And none of those examples that you gave are taught in elementary school or highschool. They’re taught as college careers because there’s a breadth of knowledge required to specialize in those fields. We also have tax attorneys, and accountants who specialize in personal tax filing. They learned those skills in college.