[bjoli]

When did the political system stop being about making life better for the average person?

In Sweden we have gotten a paper from the tax office saying "we believe your taxes should be like this" and then you can change parts you disagree with (and risk punishment if you are wrong).

Direct file seems great.

[0xEF]

> When did the political system stop being about making life better for the average person?

In the US, when we elected mediocre actor Ronald Reagan, I think. His trickle-down economics nonsense turned out to be a just and early example of catering to the rich in broad daylight instead of behind closed doors. And the people, for the most part, bought it, so now we have legal scams like 401ks that the average citizen thinks are there to help them.

The point has always been to seize control of the money while removing all accountability and they are finally succeeding because liberals handed them the election over Gaza, which is no longer in even in our news cycle.

It all makes my stomach turn, to be honest.

[Hikikomori]

I like the idea that trump is your punishment for supporting a genocide, enjoy him and his goons dismantling the federal state.

[daemin]

When there's interests which are making $100's to $1000's from many millions of people in the USA and want to keep it going.

[filleokus]

(Really) not saying it's a good idea, but if Swedes were required to fill in the paperwork, or even better/worse actually transfer the taxes (maybe including payroll), we would probably be more upset with how our taxpayer money is spent.

If you are politically motivated to minimize the tax burden, it makes sense to be skeptical of direct filing (even if you are not bribed by Intuit).

[bjoli]

I didn't think of it like that. Interesting thought.