MCViewPoint

Putting the government-taxpayer conflict of interest aside, until the US income tax is radically simplified — such as with a flat tax with few or no deductions or credits, no differentiation between short- and long-term capital gains, no differentiation between tax rates on investments and earned income, and no disguised welfare handouts like the EITC — an IRS-run tax-filing platform is for the birds. 

Or maybe we should say “for the birdbrains” — like the survey participants who said these things about the prospect of an IRS tax-prep platform:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/irs-pilot-its-own-tax-e-file-platform-2024-what-could-go-wrong

BY TYLER DURDEN

In 2024, the IRS will launch a pilot program to offer its own, government-run, income tax return-preparation website, according to a report the universally-despised agency provided to Congress on Tuesday. The report follows a $15 million study of the concept. 

If there were ever a proposal absolutely guaranteed to be a multifaceted disaster, this is it. Boobus Americanus, however, is apparently champing at the bit: IRS surveys find 72% of Americans are “very” or “somewhat interested in” a free government tool for calculating taxes. What are they missing?    

For starters, the IRS and all of us animals on the government’s taxpayer ranch approach this endeavor with an enormous conflict of interest. We don’t want to pay a penny more than we absolutely have to, while the government is hell-bent on extracting an entirely fictional “fair share” — and more — from each of us. 

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