Basically we have a shitload of credits, deductions, other misc scenarios. You’re also probably filing taxes with 2 or 3 or more govt’s that only sort of talk to each other. But it really boils down to the idea that people are actually more favorable to using tax policy to say let a low income family get money back for <x> reason, rather than the govt directly sending them a check. Broadly speaking Americans will support tax credits over direct govt spending. And so politically it’s easier for congress to run social programs and other economic incentives through the tax code. And they do. Combine that with a more complex tax code allowing corporations with an army of accountants to pay less, and hey here we are.

Unfortunately that means if today the IRS just sent you a form that said, “Hey Mr. In-Game_sext we got our records here and we think we owe you $1k. If you agree, sign here and mail it back”. You’re much more likely to just say fuck it and actually sign. They actually don’t know if you qualify for other things and so you’d likely be leaving money on the table. Even today it’s something like 1 in 5 people eligible for the EITC, which is typically thousands of dollars, don’t claim it. Hence we all just say fuck it and keep paying Turbo Tax their cut every year.