[kelnos]

I disagree with the premise, but I don't think the idea is that making the process more painful will make people want lower taxes.

It's just an in-your-face reminder of how much you're paying in taxes, supposedly sending a stronger message to you than if the IRS were to send you a pre-filled return.

So the idea is, if you're more obviously reminded of how/why your tax money is leaving your wallet, you'll hate taxes more and lobby for lower taxes. You understand that doing so won't make filing taxes any less complicated (and in fact it might be more complicated if taxes are lowered through new deductions and credits that you need to prove eligibility for), but you'll expect to be paying less.

It's still stupid, but at least the chain of logic could potentially hold if you squint close enough and agree with the premises.

[antidesitter]

> It's just an in-your-face reminder of how much you're paying in taxes

But that’s just going back to my comment 4 levels up this thread. If it’s an issue of tax amount visibility and not tax filing pain, the latter is not needed for the former.