Taxing Our Taxes
I am completely comfortable with the fact that I have to pay taxes to support government services. I acknowledge the fact that I get far more in return in benefits than what I pay.
What I don't like is having to pay to file my taxes.
E-filing is cool. It speeds up the entire process. Getting your return to the IRS is faster, their processing is faster, and you get your money back sooner.
So why is it we have to pay a fee of $15.95 to pay our taxes?
It certainly can't cost that much to process a return when there's no hands touching it? It would make more sense if they charges $15.95 to process and send a refund when it was sent in on paper.
When you file on paper, how many steps are involved? Lots. Copying your return, taking it to the post office, the postal service sorts and delivers the return, the IRS receives the return, they sort and deliver the return, a warm body checks the return, maybe another warm body checks the return, they approve the return, it's sent off to have a check cut, someone enters the check request, someone approves the check request, someone tells the computer to print the check, someone takes the printed check in its envelope to the post office, the postal service sorts and delivers the check, you open the check, take it to your bank and deposit it, and the bank requests the fund from the IRS.
By my count that's seventeen steps in my simplified illustration.
But when you e-file, you send the data over a secure network to a computer that queues your return for error checking, checks your return, issues the order to transfer the funds, and the IRS transfers the funds to your bank.
And that's five steps.
Which of these two scenarios sounds cheaper to implement?
Now the $15.95 fee is bad enough, because you can't pay cash to pay the fee. So you have to put it on your credit card. Great. Now I have the interest for this fee that I'm stuck with until I pay the entire balance.
However, the government, in their wisdom has made it possible for us to avoid this credit card charge. We can deduct the fee from our tax return! Hooray!
But wait, there's more!
If you choose to do this, the fee is $24.95! In order to save the credit card charge, it costs you more! MORE!
BOHICA.
This is unfair to every taxpayer in the United States. We should not have to pay to pay our taxes. If anything, we should get a $15.95 credit for e-filing and saving the government the money.
And why do we have to pay another $15.95 to e-file our state return as well? This sounds more like organized racketeering than government organization.
Can you tell I just finished my taxes?
What I don't like is having to pay to file my taxes.
E-filing is cool. It speeds up the entire process. Getting your return to the IRS is faster, their processing is faster, and you get your money back sooner.
So why is it we have to pay a fee of $15.95 to pay our taxes?
It certainly can't cost that much to process a return when there's no hands touching it? It would make more sense if they charges $15.95 to process and send a refund when it was sent in on paper.
When you file on paper, how many steps are involved? Lots. Copying your return, taking it to the post office, the postal service sorts and delivers the return, the IRS receives the return, they sort and deliver the return, a warm body checks the return, maybe another warm body checks the return, they approve the return, it's sent off to have a check cut, someone enters the check request, someone approves the check request, someone tells the computer to print the check, someone takes the printed check in its envelope to the post office, the postal service sorts and delivers the check, you open the check, take it to your bank and deposit it, and the bank requests the fund from the IRS.
By my count that's seventeen steps in my simplified illustration.
But when you e-file, you send the data over a secure network to a computer that queues your return for error checking, checks your return, issues the order to transfer the funds, and the IRS transfers the funds to your bank.
And that's five steps.
Which of these two scenarios sounds cheaper to implement?
Now the $15.95 fee is bad enough, because you can't pay cash to pay the fee. So you have to put it on your credit card. Great. Now I have the interest for this fee that I'm stuck with until I pay the entire balance.
However, the government, in their wisdom has made it possible for us to avoid this credit card charge. We can deduct the fee from our tax return! Hooray!
But wait, there's more!
If you choose to do this, the fee is $24.95! In order to save the credit card charge, it costs you more! MORE!
BOHICA.
This is unfair to every taxpayer in the United States. We should not have to pay to pay our taxes. If anything, we should get a $15.95 credit for e-filing and saving the government the money.
And why do we have to pay another $15.95 to e-file our state return as well? This sounds more like organized racketeering than government organization.
Can you tell I just finished my taxes?
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