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Comment by p3opl3 | Hacker News Reader

The fact that this was not a thing until recently is mind blowing to me as someone who lives in the U.K.

Doing your taxes is so easy here - takes me 30 mins max, all online and there is even a mobile app to set reminders and give you updates on any rebates or messages.

Dam...

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As someone in the US, there have been numerous free options for filing your taxes for a long time (even officially endorsed ones), and for most people without complex tax situations, it is indeed quite simple and only takes a few minutes. The people who complain about taxes in the US either have uncommon situations, didn't understand the tax implications of an employment arrangement prior to tax season (e.g. became an independent contractor without realizing their responsibilities), or are simply unaware of the free and easy options that have existed for a long time.

Dependent care credit forms, interest/dividend income forms, independent contractor forms, student loan/home mortgage interest deduction forms, medical expense deduction forms.

And that is excluding state tax return, which most have to do too. A sizable group of American tax filers, maybe even most, cannot do their taxes in a few minutes.

I've heard you have to have some sort of registered person do or sign of your tax returns or something ridiculous like this. Something about an entire industry of tax return specialists or something that exist purely for taxes to be done correctly. Of course the US is massive so it might be some random state maybe or something.

Honestly I see America like a collection of large countries as groups of states almost. They are so different in so many ways.

No, you can do it all on your own. I’ve done it over mail and if you only have regular salary or hourly income, it is like one form.

Such is the price of a lot of lobbying from those who stood (and still stand) to profit from capturing the audience.

That's some of it, but not the biggest part. The main reason is the complexity of our tax laws in the U.S.

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