Unless I am mistaken, before federal income withholding was created, everyone paid their taxes for the previous year by tax day. Then when the atrocity of withholding was enacted, all of a sudden taxes are due upon receipt of paycheck and not on tax day. I can kind of understand how withholding makes things easier for both taxpayer and IRS, but why not give the taxpayer the option to pay the old way, all at once?
I have two main concerns with this. By never having posession of the money, the taxpayer is less aware of the amount than if they had to write a check every pay period.
Secondly, before withholding, the taxpayer could set aside and invest the money and then pay at the end of the year. The longer the taxpayer has the money, the more they could make. But withholding is in essence an instant interest free loan to the govt.
The govt knows that the taxpayer is being exploited because it doesn't allow the individual to opt out of withholding if they wanted to.
2007-06-12
15:00:22
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4 answers
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asked by
Spaghetti Cat
5
in
United States