Dear IRS,
How are you? I am well. I paid my tax already when I bought gum at the Gas N Go, and it was 78 cents.
Your pal,
saltnotsugarWe’ve had one tax, yes. What about second taxes?
It’s bullshit that this is the case, but if you itemize your taxes you can deduct state taxes, including sales tax. If you’re in a place like WA that puts absolutely everything on sales tax make sure to look it up by your specific zip code to account for all levels of sales tax. The Sales Tax Deduction Calculator is a pretty easy way to do it.
Note that you’re probably still better off using the standard deduction unless you have some other significant source of deductions that you can itemize (mortgage/property taxes, maybe auto loan if you got a crazy expensive car, significant medical expenses).
Had to reset my password to get my student financial aid payments and Aidvantage’s systems are apparently garbage so it too literally DAYS for me to get my reset email. That was just one bullshit step I had to take in order to try and finish my taxes.
The government should know all that info anyways, so why do I need to provide it exactly? Because TurboTax, H&R Block, etc. have lobbied to make our taxes a pain in the ass in the hopes that more people pay to use their shitty proprietary software.
In civilized countries, they just sent you a form, you check it, and send it back. Done.
In the Greatest Country on Earth, it’s a confusing shitshow where you have to chase down all the information and if you get anything wrong it can ruin your life.
Fucking infuriating dystopian bullshit.
In the UK, if you’ve a simple single job with no more than (I think) £12,500 extra income…
You do nothing.
It all goes automatically with PAYE (pay as you earn).
That’s it.
This only applies if you’re not extremely wealthy, though.
So there’s that.
Sigh
so, only those who made more than $10m get to keep some of it? sounds about right.
Well that would have been way easier than the forms I had to fill out.