Ever had to deal with the police? Because that's pretty much been my.experience with them.

That's called outlawry, and it was actually one of the harshest punishments you could receive in Roman times and the middle ages. Outlawry isn't nearly as cool as Clint Eastwood made it out to be.

Some days I think literally outlawing people, in the historical sense, might be a good idea.

The problem is they can already get away for pretending that's the way the world is for an unfortunately long time sometimes.

https://www.insider.com/sovereign-citizens-moved-into-15-million-mansion-in-maryland-2021-7

Declare them sovereign and then state they are enemy combatants invading, the war won't be long.

I do enjoy being in all their psycho groups and laughing at what they come up with though.

This is an actually useful answer for an otherwise crazy conversation. If you are poor, and have kids, you probably don't owe any money at the end of the year. Most poor people actually get money at the end of the year that they didn't even pay, from child tax credits, earned income credit, and the standard deductions. If you fall into that category then you are better off filing as exempt, so that you don't loan the government money interest free, just like you said. Those few extra bucks every week really matter when you're below the poverty line.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/underpayment-of-estimated-tax-by-individuals-penalty

I was looking into this a few years ago and also wondered what if I tried to just pay my taxes at the end of the year. I get why it exists but you gotta love the double standard... wish I could could get interest and penalty pay on any money they owe me over 1k.

This answer is correct, that form is called IRS W-4. All employers give this with setting up payroll.

The thing is, the IRS will still know how much you made and will be able to tell if those exemptions are authentic based on your tax return, so you'll still end up paying.

You could try to negotiate a 1099 contractor agreement sans the 1099 and pray the IRS never figures it out, but the company takes a risk with this too, bigger than the contractor, because they want to deduct your pay as an expense, and documentation is required.

Even better: work for a cash business and take your income in cash. Things might get a little spicy if you're depositing that much cash every month at your bank.

Right, it's just that the IRS will eventually catch up to them because the employer files, so the IRS knows how much they made. When they do catch up, they'll not only owe the original amount, they'll owe a giant penalty and interest on it.

Pretty sure there's a box you can check that more or less says "tax exempt". Had a co-worker a few years back who's onboarding paperwork got fucked up and he got a fat tax bill come January. Turns out HR accidentally marked him as tax exempt when he got hired and he never checked his paystubs (they're behind a shitty payroll app) or just didn't notice he wasn't paying tax

If you live in the US: https://www.usaspending.gov/

If not, search for a “your country budget breakdown”. Most democratic nations will have a similar publication.

My take after looking it over, it’s boring. We spend money on medical care, defense, and interest payments. That’s where most all of the money goes. The benefits we receive from that money are things we completely take for granted, it’s easy to not notice them but you sure would notice if it stopped.

your username suggests you're in the UK.

So a) you already get a breakdown of NI contributions etc in you paystub and you can further check this on HMRC

and b) the house of Commons publishes everything tax related here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/topic/economy-business/work-incomes/tax/

and c) there is Wall to Wall coverage of the budget every year, highlighted by the traditional annual photos of the chancellor of the exchequer and his red briefcase, in mid March when the tax year ends

In Australia we get a receipt with our tax return that breaks down exactly where our tax dollars went. The same happens in France if I remember correctly, it’s pretty cool to see it and puts some of the spending into perspective

Sure that's not unreasonable to want.

Thats how dumb sov cits are. They don't get that you can just claim 12 dependents...sure it's fraud, but they don't think laws are real so 🤷‍♂️

I don't know for sure that this applies federally, but in my municipality you have to make estimated payments throughout the year if you don't have them deducted from your pay. My employer made a mistake and didn't withhold local taxes, and when I paid in a lump sum a fine was assessed.