Beverly Moran, Vanderbilt University
Doing taxes in the U.S. is notoriously complicated and costly. And it gets even worse when there are delays and backlogs, making it especially hard to reach the Internal Revenue Service for assistance.
But to me this raises an important question: Why should taxpayers have to navigate the tedious, costly tax filing system at all? Continue reading
By Paul Kiel, Justin Elliott and Will Young. Published 4-24-2020 by ProPublica
Image: Jernej Furman/flickr/CC
Last week, a group of angry and desperate Citi Tax Financial customers gathered outside the company’s storefront in Augusta, Georgia. Millions of Americans had received a big deposit from the IRS in their bank accounts, but they had not. The IRS website told them their coronavirus stimulus checks were deposited in an account they didn’t recognize.
With an officer from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office beside him and another officer shouting for people to be quiet, the tax preparation company’s owner told the crowd of about 60, only a few of whom wore masks, that he didn’t have their money. Continue reading