Comment by vunderba

There's this great bit I saw on Twitter a while ago:

  Government: You owe us money. It’s called taxes.

  Me: How much do I owe?

  Gov’t: You have to figure that out.

  Me: I just pay what I want?

  Gov’t: Oh, no we know exactly how much you owe. But you have to guess that number too.

  Me: What if I get it wrong?

  Gov’t: You go to prison

I absolutely hate the US tax system. As I understand in some countries, they instead send you a "pre-filed" statement (Finland, Denmark, Sweden, etc.). If everything looks fine, you don't need to send anything back at all. It's only if there is a discrepancy that you need to get in touch with the country's tax agency.