[maxerickson]

That number is already shown on W-2s and copied to the tax return. I guess it's easier to not care about the number than it would be to not care about a check.

One thing that would happen is that a lot more people would come up short at tax time.

[talmand]

And yet if you ask people how much they pay taxes they probably don't know.

They may know how much they take home and how much they get back on their return, but the dollar amount they pay in taxes? I would bet most don't know.

[maxerickson]

Oh, I agree with that. I was just pointing out that the information is already pretty available (It isn't actually on the W-2, that's just withholding, but it's a line item on the 1040). To me that at least hints at people not believing they can do much to change it, rather than being completely oblivious.