What Do You Mean I Can't!

[Krsqk]

Originally posted by rextorres:
Anyway that's the whole point of filing tax returns. What's deducted from a paycheck is not necessarily what we should be paying in taxes.

Which is a valid argument for returning to the pre-WWII state of "pay lump sum at the end of the year" method:
1) You understand exactly how much you're paying.
2) Taxes have to drop dramatically due to popular demand.
Unforunately, in today's culture:
1) People would not save money for their tax bill--gotta keep up with the neighbors, dontcha?
2) People would complain about the lack of government services due to decreased tax income.

Quote from Fyron's tax history link:

Reductions in exemption levels meant that taxpayers with taxable incomes of only $500 faced a bottom tax rate of 23 percent, while taxpayers with incomes over $1 million faced a top rate of 94 percent. These tax changes increased federal receipts from $8.7 billion in 1941 to $45.2 billion in 1945. Even with an economy stimulated by war-time production, federal taxes as a share of GDP grew from 7.6 percent in 1941 to 20.4 percent in 1945. Beyond the rates and revenues, however, another aspect about the income tax that changed was the increase in the number of income taxpayers from 4 million in 1939 to 43 million in 1945.

Now that's insane. Let's not give any incentive to improve your life or anything. 94%?!?!? That's not even including any state or local taxes.