It is after April Fool’s Day, and before Tax Day, so this is not a joke.
Most people in the US file will tax returns by April 15. A few states with holidays (Maine and Massachusetts) or in federally declared disaster areas have later filing deadlines. (Early filing started in late January).
What’s new this year is free tax filing through the IRS for families with adjusted gross income of $79,000 or less (that’s most taxpayers).
This new program is bringing the USA up to speed with a lot of other countries which have had similar or even simpler systems for many years. Anyone with uncomplicated taxes can now file federal tax papers directly with the IRS, or through a partner company for no cost. State tax programs may be different, and may cost some fee to process online.
Tax accountants will still have business, since there will always be customers with more complicated taxes. For the rest of the USA, the new IRS Direct File and IRS Free File programs will make a great difference.
IRS Direct File is a no-cost program starting this year in 12 pilot states: AZ, CA, FL, MA, NV, NH, NY, SD, TN, TX, WA and WY. It provides a step-by-step guide, and you can use a smart phone, tablet, or computer.
IRS Free File lets taxpayers prepare and file federal income tax returns online using guided tax preparation software, at no cost.
Anyone needing an extension for more time to file tax returns can use IRS Free File to get an automatic extension
Free File Fillable Forms. For people with income over $79,000, there are free, online fillable forms. This is available for people to file online, but without the assistance of the IRS Direct File or IRS Free File. You must have a U.S. phone number that accepts text messages.
About Taxes:
Most people pay small amount of estimated tax with every paycheck, instead of the whole amount at one time. When they file taxes returns, they sort out if what they paid added up to the correct amount. If they paid extra then they’ll get a refund. If they paid too little, they’ll pay the rest at tax filing time.
Taxes are the way we pay for running the country. The citizens vote for people to work in the government and make sure that citizens and businesses and schools and military and all the other things our country needs keep working.
What is government?
Government: the office, authority, or function of governing (Merriam – Websters)
The word, “governor” also refers to a part of an engine. The engine governor’s job is to automatically maintain the speed regardless of the load. A typical governor regulates an engine's speed by varying the rate at which fuel is furnished to it.
The job of a government for a group of people is to provide direction and control over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities. Government is necessary to the existence of civilized society.
An engine without a governor might have very uneven speed, and cause a car or other machine to jerk and halt. A society without governing can be like an engine jerking and halting.
Governments usually have elected, hired, and appointed workers. Each type of government worker has types of work they do, partly based on whether they are elected, or hired, or appointed. Elected jobs are for limited periods of time, like a president’s 4-year term. Hired staff who work many years in government, so that the elected people don’t need to learn everything right away (like where the copiers are). Appointed people are sometimes brought into government by elected people, with whom they had worked in other jobs, and can quickly fill a role like press secretary.
When an election is held, and a new person takes up a job, they rely on the long-term hired government workers, and newly appointed staff to help them get up to speed quickly, so they can get to working smoothly for the people who elected them.
Here are some examples of people in government:
Elected - mayor, club president, city counselor, and union leader, school board.
Appointed - US secretary of state, ambassador, auditor.
Hired - librarian, snow-plow driver, attorney, teacher, police officer, manager of lottery sales.
Sometimes those who are hired and appointed workers are called Bureaucrats, or part of a Bureaucracy. The word Bureau, the first part of bureaucracy, also is used to mean a desk/chest of drawers with places to put papers or clothing. It also mean a room in which the desk sat, and where people did work. So, to be a person who works in a Bureau, means to work in an office. FBI is short for the “Federal Bureau of Investigation.” It has mostly hired workers, and an appointed director.
Things to Do:
Then next time you read or hear news about a government person, see if you know if they are elected, appointed, or hired. Sometimes it may be a person in your own home, or maybe your neighbor who is part of the government. Sometimes, you may find you’re the person governing, for a club or a job like a clerk in a city.
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