Tax day was on April 18 this year, and for many adults it was a very frantic and stressful Tuesday. On that strenuous day, I was on the phone with the Internal Revenue Service’s helpline in response to a letter I received refusing to process my taxes due to “fraudulent activities” caught by the office of the IRS. During the two and a half hours that I was on the phone, I came to the realization that the way taxes are done in the United States is a perfect representation the fact that the IRS has become more of a policing agency than a collecting agency. This isn’t helped by the failure of the U.S. education system to teach its citizens how to file taxes. 

Prior to this year, my mother normally paid a tax preparer to file our family’s taxes. I wanted to take on a more responsible role in my life so I decided to file my taxes myself this year. I didn’t want to pay for a tax preparer and I didn’t want to pay for an online tax service, so I used H&R Block’s tax services because it is free if you are filing a simple Income Tax return (Unemployment income, retirement income, W-2 income and interest and dividend income). Before I even began to file my taxes, I had to allocate a day from my week to doing my taxes. I had to gather the right documents and forms and even after using H&R’s praised tax service, I still got a letter in the mail saying there was an error with my tax return and that my return process had been placed on pause. I needed to contact their office to get it resolved. In light of this, I started thinking of all the stress and problems that come with filing taxes. For starters, In America, there are numerous tax codes and a multitude of tax forms like the Federal Income Tax Code, the Estate Tax Code, the Gift Tax Code, the Property Tax Code, Form 1099, Form 1098-T, W-2 Form, and so on. Another big stressor for Americans when it comes to taxes is the fear of making a mistake. The United States processes taxes a lot differently than other countries. In America, sometimes it can feel like you have to guess how much you owe the government based on how much you make. If you go over you get a tax refund, but if you go under, you can be penalized for either tax evasion or fraud. Another big stressor is the sheer amount of paperwork involved and how time-consuming it can be. Many Americans can attest to how long it takes to gather the proper information to file a single tax return. As I stated earlier, I had to take a day out of my week to file my taxes. Normally when an American files their taxes, they have to gather their receipts, previous year tax returns, W-2 form (if applicable), Form 1099, Form 1040, Form 1098-T (if they are a four-year college student) and so on. The whole process takes hours to gather and can be very taxing on full-time college students, single working parents, middle-class workers and other working demographics.

In addition to the stresses listed above, the IRS itself serves as another stressor for Americans when doing their taxes. The IRS is a branch of the United States’ Department of the Treasury. The role of the IRS is to enforce tax laws and regulations in the U.S. It is also responsible for collecting taxes, processing tax returns, providing information and assistance to taxpayers to help them file their tax correctly and investigating and prosecuting cases of tax evasion and fraud. In recent years, the IRS hasn’t done a good enough job when it comes to collecting taxes but has excelled when it comes to policing tax laws. The IRS was founded on the ideal of being a collecting agency but over the years, they have neglected that ideal and they act like a branch of the U.S Department of Justice rather than the Treasury. Back in high school, my sophomore year English teacher told our class that there are three government agencies that we should avoid entering the radar of; the CIA, the FBI and the IRS. As I progressed through life, I realized that many Americans shared the same sentiment as my English teacher. A collection agency should never be listed amongst two of the nation’s highest defense and intelligence agencies.

As I stated above, Tax day and filing taxes make for a very stressful and chaotic time for all Americans. Most of the stress comes from factors that can be easily remedied by proper education in our K-12 level or even in higher education. I am in support of taxes as a concept but not in support of the poor execution of it by the United States.