Readers On Tax 3

A reader in New York state writes:

1) I have my taxes done by a preparer, and the experience feels like nothing so much as going to a casino. You sit down at a table, pass cards (W-2s) back and forth, and then the dealer (the preparer) tells you whether you’ve won (refund) or lost (owe a payment). There are strategies you can use to improve your odds of winning (keeping track of deductions, IRAs), but mostly it seems like luck. It’s demoralizing. I block out the experience as quickly as possible. Maybe this is why people care more about how their tax dollars are spent than how much they are taxed — the process is so complex it’s hopeless to try and understand.

2) Just how do people learn to do their taxes? I suppose most people learn from their families and from experience. I’ve been going to a preparer for a few years (which can be expensive), but before that I made a lot of costly mistakes. There ought to be a more formal, organized way for people in their 20s to learn how to approach taxes.