Taxes
I just got a letter from the Ohio Tax authority. They recalculated my 2021 taxes and gave an itemized listing of my return and their recalculation. Everything was exactly the same. It is a mystery to me why they did that. It’s never happened before.
What is clear is that they are perfectly capable of calculating my taxes with no input from me. Otherwise how could they have compared their results to my return. So if they can do that, I should not have to go to the trouble of preparing all of the tax returns myself. They could just send me a postcard and if I agree, I can just send them a check. I suppose all of the CPAs would lobby against that.
In fact, the tax code is so complicated that we need tax prep software or an accountant to submit even the simplest returns. I suppose the tax code is really a device whereby the government accomplishes social aims such as getting people to save and invest and buy houses. But I don’t think that is the way to accomplish that. Too many loopholes and complicated calculations.
But at the very least, it should not cost us a small fortune to be able to get the government to take our money.
