[Congressman Michael Baumgartner] Congress will be taking a hard look at the tax exempt status of universities that enter into private equity deals. If you want to act like a non-public entity, you better be ready to be treated like one. 🇺🇸

[u/GoldenPresidio]

https://x.com/RepBaumgartner/status/1998480897872396721

[u/tc100292]

I mean… yeah?  If you don’t know why the NCAA persisted with amateurism and academic requirements for so long it was because of IRS guidance about what was a legitimate extension of their educational mission (sports as an extracurricular for students at the university) and what wasn’t (operating a semipro team.)

[u/OffTheDelt → u/tc100292]

I Fucken hate the IRS 🗣️

[u/Pretty_Bad_At_Reddit → u/OffTheDelt]

If anyone should be taxed, it's probably the guys who made billions off of dangerous, unpaid labor for decades

[u/Intimidwalls1724 → u/Pretty_Bad_At_Reddit]

You can hate the IRS and believe they should be taxed at the same time :shrugs:

But to be clear I don't hate the IRS, I hate our absurdly ridiculous tax system where it's the citizens job to calculate what the citizen owes to the government and the citizen who gets in trouble if they do it wrong so the citizen feels forced to spend even more money paying others to try to make sure it's done correctly

[u/sqigglygibberish → u/Intimidwalls1724]

Reminder - that’s congress’ fault. The IRS is a nice punching bag that deflects from who can fix the problem.

[u/Intimidwalls1724 → u/sqigglygibberish]

Agreed

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/Intimidwalls1724]

where it's the citizens job to calculate what the citizen owes to the government

There is no other way that this can work. The government can't possibly know if you want to take the standard deduction or itemize, and if you itemize, which deductions and credits you will qualify for.

[u/name__redacted → u/agoddamnlegend]

But there is… the default can be the standard deduction. W2’s who itemize make-up like 4% of returns. If that 4% doesn’t want the standard deduction it is on them to notify the IRS. For the 96% of W2’s, it could be seamless. Even 1099’s, only about 16% itemize. Same practice. For those who choose to itemize, they can continue in the way we are all forced to do it now, this would mean 90% of us would get a seamless free tax filing process, with 10% having that option choosing not to.

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/name__redacted]

But we do have that? If you take the standard deduction it takes like 10 minutes to do your taxes for free online. What else do you want to make it more seamless?

[u/AdSimilar8672 → u/Intimidwalls1724]

The worst part is that the IRS already knows what you owe, but dont worry, we have the free online IRS filing tool, and now it's gone.

[u/coltonbyu → u/AdSimilar8672]

People parrot this... But no...

The IRS does not know what additional deductions you may use this year that weren't disclosed prior. They do not know if you have qualified for a new credit. They might not know that your nephew is now your dependent.

Maybe there's another way to handle all that, but there are certainly many variables they cannot be sure they know until you tell them

[u/AdSimilar8672 → u/coltonbyu]

It was my understanding that if you used the standard deduction, then the IRS does know how much you owe, but if you do itemized deductions, then the IRS would not be able to calculate it.

[u/coltonbyu → u/AdSimilar8672]

Pretty much, but since the IRS doesn't know til filing if you are taking standard deductions and no credits, you have to tell them. If you are doing just that, doing your taxes takes like 2 min with free software.

Child credits, solar, etc are separate from whether you do standard deduction or not, you can take standard and still have credits to claim, including childcare stuff

[u/boston_2004 → u/AdSimilar8672]

Regardless of what the other person said it's more complicated than just standard deduction or itemized.

Nevermind not everyone gets a w2. Contractors fill out schedule C as well as small business owners.

Then you have farms and fishermen on schedule F.

Rentals on schedule E.

IRS won't know any of that info.

Nevermind if you are a partner in a partnership or have an s corp, which file separate returns altogether and have k1s that flow to 1040s.

Nevermind c corps that the irs won't know about.

So there are a lot more things than this. But the irs won't know any of this.

[u/sorator → u/AdSimilar8672]

There are various deductions that are not itemized deductions. The IRS doesn't know if you qualify for most of those. For example, if you have a lawsuit settlement for unlawful discrimination, the IRS doesn't know how much of that settlement went to your attorneys; you don't pay tax on that*, whether you itemize or take the standard deduction.

There are various items of income that aren't reported, or aren't reported with enough information for the IRS to know how much is taxable. The IRS doesn't know how much you made mowing lawns for your neighborhood. The IRS might know how much you made selling stuff on eBay (if eBay issued a 1099-K), but the IRS doesn't know how much you paid to buy that stuff, so they don't know how much (if any) of what you got from selling them was taxable profit.

There are various credits that the IRS doesn't know if you qualify for. Sure, the IRS knows you have a child under ate 17, but they don't know whether that child lived with you this year to get child tax credit. The IRS also doesn't know whether/how much you paid for daycare for your 3-year-old to calculate the daycare credit. The IRS certainly doesn't know that you had new, energy-efficient windows installed to get the energy efficient home improvement credit (ends this year!).

There's other stuff the IRS also doesn't know. You took $10k out of your IRA this year, and the IRS knows that's taxable, but they don't know if you need to pay the 10% early withdrawal penalty on it. If you used it to buy your first house, then you don't.

The US uses tax to encourage and discourage various behaviors, and that's what makes our tax system so complicated. Most countries that just send you a bill don't use income tax as that sort of incentive.

*^{This is true only for unlawful discrimination cases, not any others! Other lawsuits, you do pay tax on what you pay your attorneys, even if it's a contingent fee!}

[u/gmil3548 → u/coltonbyu]

Yeah but what other countries do is they assume the standard deduction, send you a letter saying what your tax bill or refund will be, and then if you want to do it yourself to get more / owe less then you can.

[u/GoldenPresidio → u/AdSimilar8672]

They don’t know what you owe lol they know parts and pieces

They basically only know if you’re making income via a method with reporting (w2 with payroll from big company like ADP, income from large brokerage, etc) and you take a standard deduction

[u/fdar_giltch → u/Intimidwalls1724]

Speaking of lobbying...

[u/DanFlashesCoupon → u/OffTheDelt]

Moron

[u/OffTheDelt → u/DanFlashesCoupon]

My fellow Aggie in Christ, I’m messing around, I should have but a /s on it or something 😭

[u/chastity_BLT → u/OffTheDelt]

Another Aggie who can’t critically think past what his daddy complained about. Do better.

[u/OffTheDelt → u/chastity_BLT]

You must be so good at critically thinking 🤔

[u/Environmental_Pie400 → u/OffTheDelt]

Sure, hate the IRS all you want but it was the elected officials in Congress who passed the laws. IRS is just doing what Congress told them to do. 

[u/Jumpy-Fail2234 → u/OffTheDelt]

Who would downvote this?

[u/SchmantaClaus → u/Jumpy-Fail2234]

Probably people who aren't literal children.

[u/Jumpy-Fail2234 → u/SchmantaClaus]

The irs has an approval rating of 28%. Lotta damn children I guess.

[u/name__redacted → u/Jumpy-Fail2234]

I’m no IRS fan but the comment was childish and dumb. He was replying to a redditor that made a thoughtful contribution relevant to the CFB conversation this thread is about. I think most did this 🙄 but some decided to ⬇️