Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lotsofpulp 1128 days ago
90% of federal tax filers in the US do not itemize, which includes the majority of home owners.
1 comments

> 90% of federal tax filers in the US do not itemize, which includes the majority of home owners.

Isn't that a relatively recent thing? IIRC, the standard deduction was massively increased a few years ago.

Isn't that a relatively recent thing?

Yes, it is. What difference do you think that makes in the present day?

It makes a difference because policy changes don’t happen instantly.

Something we can do differently that seems obvious today could have been a disastrous policy just a few years ago.

The optics of the IRS sending out bills for thousands of dollars more than people rightfully owe are bad, to say the least.

I owned a house from 2012-2018. Still wound up with the standard deduction every year.
Paid mine off in 2008. I have been standard deduction ever since. My taxes take about 30 mins to do with one of the major bits of software. I could go real cheap and just copy the numbers around from year to year and do the math and mail it in. But at this point it is getting more and more silly that the IRS does not just mail us a post card with a link saying 'is this right?'. Pretty much all the ways I make money have a 10 form that they are filing with the IRS. I am fairly sure I am not alone.