Why do we pay income taxes, again?

Civics 101

NHPR

History, Government, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2024

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We revisit our explainers on why our tax system is the way it is, and how to comply with it, just in time for tax day. We haven't always had a federal income tax, and in the beginning, it only applied to the very richest Americans. So how did we end up with the permanent income tax we have today, with all its complicated rules about everything from pre-tax income to deductions and credits? And what does it actually pay for? CLICK HERE: Visit our website to see all of our episodes, donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! To see Civics 101 in book form, check out A User's Guide to Democracy: How America Works by Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice, featuring illustrations by Tom Toro. Check out our other weekly NHPR podcast, Outside/In - we think you'll love it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy.
0:03.0	And I'm Nicapideche. And I guess we're just jumping in.
0:06.6	No warm-up, no archival, just going right into this?
0:09.8	Well, I do have a question for you. But it sounds a lot like a question we might ask at the
0:15.1	beginning of an ad which this is not this is a real show we are not trying to
0:20.3	sell you on anything but we are going to talk about something that you're
0:24.5	probably hearing a lot of ads about right now. And that is taxes. Oh dear.
0:33.0	They say everybody's got different problems.
0:35.0	Well, maybe so, but I've got a song about one problem that every one of us have, and that's taxes.
0:52.0	So I'm solemnly swear I'm not about to sell you a tax service, but I do want to ask to any of these questions sound familiar to you.
0:53.1	How many kids do you have?
0:54.4	Do you work from home?
0:55.6	Did you save for retirement?
0:56.8	Did you pay tuition?
0:57.8	How about student loans?
0:58.6	Did you get money from an inheritance?
0:59.8	Did you buy an electric vehicle?
1:00.8	Did you donate to a charity?
1:01.8	Did you buy a house?
1:03.0	How big is your office?
1:04.0	Yeah, I'm familiar with all those questions, Hannah, because I answer them when I file my taxes.
1:09.0	And Nick, if you don't mind me asking, how did you do your taxes last year?
	...

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