How Americans View Taxes and the IRS

Tax Day is over and no one could be happier than me.  The Pew Research Center wrote an article about how American's view the IRS and so I couldn't resist to chime in.  Please read the article.  This is my last blog about the IRS.  Are you a member of the 100 million American who filed their returns on April 15th?  If so great job!    But for the estimated 12 million people who have requested extensions, the worst is still to come because they still need to file and probably need to pay. The question I have is why?  The answer is because we all hate doing our taxes and especially if we owe money. 

The reason my why my CPA practically begs me get him the information he needs to finish my taxes on time every year is because I always owe money. According to Pew Research Center, 34% of Americans liked or loved doing their taxes which leaves 56% of people who either disliked or hated doing their taxes. Most of those who liked doing their taxes agreed that the best part of doing their taxes was to get a refund and I couldn't agree more. Find out more about possible tax deductions for homebuyers from my previous blog. 

By a 52% to 42% margin, Americans think their taxes are too high of which I wholeheartedly agree.  Taxes are too high and we need tax reform.     51% of American expressed an unfavorable view of the IRS as the agency ranked at the bottom of the list among 13 government agencies.    Pew Research Center also concluded that the IRS does not make Americans feel warm all over. While I do not really expect the IRS to be likeable, I would have to commend this government agency for its outreach efforts. The information we need to file our taxes is readily available and the IRS has totally embraced social media.  In the future we may be able to file via Facebook or LinkedIn.  Wouldn't that be  something?   I believe we will see a turnaround in how American's view the IRS when we see real tax reform.  Until then the IRS will always be hated by most Americans.  

 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/04/15/on-tax-day-americans-views-of-taxes-and-the-irs/



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