I'll be honest with you, if they combined this information with everything else they already know about my income, and had me sign a completed tax return at the end of the year instead of playing a game of "hope you don't accidentally commit tax fraud" I'd be ok with it.
Yes, unless you have a lot of vendor income below the reporting threshold the IRS probably has a very good idea how much money you make. Here's an incomplete list of what they don't know that makes "but you should know my taxes!!" arguments moot:
* You got married, divorced, or became a widow[er]
* You had or lost a child
* You paid mortgage loan interest on a primary residence
* You paid student loan interest
Or any number of other things that could have changed your adjusted gross income, which is what you're actually taxed on.
The only way the IRS can bill you for actual taxes owed is if the tax code is simplified (an objectively good thing). The only way the tax code is simplified to that level is if most deductions and credits disappear, and whether or not that's "good" is arguable at best.
1 and 2. Governments maintain vital records. It would not be a leap for them to report changes to the IRS.
3. Mortgage companies already report mortgage interest to the IRS on form 1098. Not much of a leap for mortgage companies to keep track of whether a mortgage is on someone's primary residence and report that.
It is possible. In Belgium, the tax authorities have all this information and more. The 'tax on web' site mostly fills in your tax forms itself and asks you for corrections. For a lot of the population, these corrections are minor to none, e.g. some of the smaller charity deductions are missing.
I didn't say it wasn't possible, only that this isn't information the IRS has ready access to for 331+ million people in the US. You'd need big legislative and/or regulatory changes to pipe that kind of information into the IRS.
I know... but for the vast majority of people, this is not an issue. You think the government doesn't know where you live, with all the other records out there? Tax preparation is a big business and is the real reason this hasn't been streamlined like it has in some other countries.
in darknet diaries EP 26 - IRS they talk about how the budget and staff got severely cut resulting in major IT issues. I think if we want a better system we're going to also be ok with giving a portion of the Turbo Tax to fund the development, maintenance, and securing of the systems required.
