How to file your taxes

Civics 101

NHPR

Education, History, Supreme Court, American History, Elections, Democracy, Society & Culture, Government, Civics, Politics, Social Studies

4.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2024

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Deductions, credits, W2s, audits. It's complicated out there, so we break it down.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi Nick.
0:01.0	Hey Anna.
0:02.0	Nick, why do we pay income taxes?
0:06.8	Why are we expected to give some of the money we earn to the government?
0:11.0	Whoo, well, I'm not a big time city lawyer, Hannah.
0:16.6	But I feel like it's like the government is expected to do something for us in return for those
0:21.6	taxes, right?
0:23.0	By making and enforcing laws, providing security and protection,
0:27.0	giving us ways to live and work and travel safely and to help us access basic things like food or shelter.
0:38.0	Yeah, that's the idea.
0:40.0	But there's also something really important about our tax system.
0:45.0	We put a lot of emphasis on fairness.
0:48.0	How can you judge if a tax is fair to the taxpayer?
0:52.0	Well, most people today accept the principle that a person
0:55.2	should be taxed according to his ability to pay. As a result, we have a graduated or progressive
1:01.6	income tax. income tax.
1:03.0	Look, I mean, no one likes paying taxes, right?
1:05.8	We all have to do it because somebody has to pay the bills.
1:08.5	This is Joe Thorndyke.
1:10.1	He's the director of the Tax History Project.
1:12.5	Civics 101 talked to him back in 2017.
1:14.8	But that means that we want to make sure that everyone else is paying their fair share,
	...

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