While much attention is paid to the burdens of paying taxes, often overlooked is the burden of filing taxes. In total, taxpayers spend nearly 7 billion hours just to comply with the current tax code, an amount of time worth $263 billion. Because making sense of forms and tax regulations is borderline impossible for most, nearly 90% of taxpayers use a paid service to complete their taxes.
Thankfully, relief is on the way.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will simplify the code and make it much easier for millions of Americans to file their taxes. A key component of the plan would nearly double the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples.
Currently, 30% of filers itemize their taxes, which piles up https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/12/18/tax-cuts-and-jobs-act-simplify-code-editorial-debates/108725474/mountains of paperwork. With the higher standard deduction, the number of itemizers will drop to less than 8%, meaning more than 30 million taxpayers will save time that was previously spent organizing receipts and records.
Read the full article at USA TODAY.