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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by cannedtuna@lemmy.world to c/comicstrips@lemmy.world

Transcript[An angry kid sits at his desk in school complaining]

Kid: Ugh why don’t you teach us about things we’ll actually need to know as adults?!

[An unamused teacher]

Teacher: Ok, I’m going to teach you how to do your taxes while also dealing the death of a loved one

[The teacher, wearing the same expression, holds a knife in one hand, and a hamster in the other]

Teacher: Please itemize your deductions while I deal with Mister Hamps, the class pet

[A class of shocked and crying kids look on in horror while trying to simultaneously do their taxes. The cries of the hamster off screen are cut off abruptly]

Hamster: SQWEEE- -

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[-] x00z@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

In my country I just open the government website, quickly glance if they got my income for my job correct, and click "submit".

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Itemizing is a totally waste of your time. Just take the standard deduction.

And that hamster bit me, so stab away, I'll feel nothing but schadenfreude.

[-] Leviathan@lemmy.world 56 points 2 days ago

As funny as this is, I really think an entire year if not a core course on taxes, tax law, rights, law, etc. would have really fucking helped life.

[-] PunnyName@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Most people don't need an education on how to do their taxes. They simply need maths and reading comprehension. It's not that hard.

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 1 day ago

I had to learn all these things in school. They were actually covered in both junior high and then again when I was in high school. Also how to do job applications and interviews, budgeting, bank accounts, loans, interest, stocks, all that stuff. We even spent weeks doing a fake stock market where we "invested" and tracked the stocks we picked to see how we did.

[-] JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Damn, which school did you attend?

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 points 1 day ago

Regular old public school.

[-] JennaR8r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Which state & city? Because I guarantee you most regular old public schools do not provide education to the extent you described. In which state & city did you attend a regular old public school?

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'll say it was a small town in the midwest. Not getting more specific than that.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

If we get to wish for a public policy to change, then I'd rather we get 100% of our taxes from the rich, calculated by the government. Henry George was right.

[-] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I'll say it as much as I can. Tax business, on profit not individuals on their salary. Salary comes from a business paying you, they have accountants, they can pay taxes.

And when you tax profits, they have the incentive to reinvest in the company, either by hiring more people, or building things, or spending money on research. Instead of giving record profits to shareholders.

Of course you can have small businesses below certain employee numbers exempt or something like that to help new businesses.

This of course means you can't hand out "government help" by just taking less taxes from people already making money, and have to install give real help to people in need irrespective of their salary.

And of course there might be some details that should be added to make it good.

[-] Nighed@feddit.uk 2 points 13 hours ago

If you did that, every single person would be a contractor, with their company paying them everything, with no "profits" at all.

Making functional tax systems is really hard!

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago

Wouldn't that mean the worker is getting paid the full value of their labor?

[-] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

A lot of schools do teach laws, rights and the like to students now.

Taxes, not so useful when filing laws regularly change.

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 10 points 2 days ago

The only way tax law has meaningfully changed in the last 30 years for most Americans is the brackets.

us is no the whole world

I am confused many people feel filing tax is a useful skill, I have never once used itemized deduction.

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[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 122 points 2 days ago

This life lesson definitely does come in handy the older you get. Nothing like receiving complicated tax forms that have to processed for your dead relative / spouse / or child to remind you of how cruel the world is.

[-] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 60 points 2 days ago

The debt your grandmother had is now yours! If you don't resolve it she will haunt you.

Sorry for your loss!!!!!

Now fuck you pay me.

[-] Zorque@lemmy.world 68 points 2 days ago

As I understand it, even in third world shitholes like the US, debt itself doesn't transfer... but you do have to deduct debt from inheritance before you get anything.

[-] SystemDisc@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 days ago

Pretty sure it depends on the state. In NY, my mom’s credit card debt disappeared when she died. I do not think that’s the same in other states. I assume it usually transfers to the spouse.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

In which state can you inherit debt?

[-] SystemDisc@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Spousal debt: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Other debts: About 30 states have archaic, rarely enforced laws that can make adult children legally responsible for their parents' unpaid necessities, like medical or nursing home bills.

IANAL and this is a summary from Google, so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of it. I can just tell you that in my experience, NY does not pass on debt to spouses.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

What about grandmother's debt like we were discussing?

[-] SystemDisc@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Like I’ve said, I do not know this stuff. A Google search says:

You do not automatically inherit your grandparent's debt in any U.S. state, including New York. Debts are the responsibility of the deceased person’s estate, not the heirs. However, you may become personally liable in any state if you co-signed a loan, jointly held accounts with the right of survivorship, or acted as a legal guarantor. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

While there are no states where grandchildren specifically inherit general debt, over 20 states have historical "filial responsibility" laws that can legally require adult children to pay for the unpaid medical or elder care expenses of their indigent parents. [6, 7, 8]

How Care-Related Debt Could Impact You

  • Filial Responsibility States: In states where these laws are still active (like Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Jersey), healthcare facilities have occasionally attempted to sue adult children for their parents' nursing home bills. These laws almost exclusively apply to a child's obligation to their parents, not grandchildren to their grandparents.
  • New York Specifics: In New York, filial responsibility laws (New York Social Services Law § 101) technically require children to support impoverished parents, but it is rarely enforced by creditors.
  • Estate Claims: Even if you do not inherit the debt, any money or property your grandparent leaves you will go toward paying off their creditors (via probate) before you receive your inheritance. [4, 8, 9, 10, 11]

If you are dealing with debt collection for a deceased relative, you can review your rights in the FTC Consumer Advice on Debts and Deceased Relatives and use the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

to report unlawful or abusive collection practices.

AI responses may include mistakes.

[1] https://www.metlife.com/stories/legal/can-you-inherit-debt/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6zwsytrEddc

[3] https://www.viewridgelaw.com/2025/10/will-i-inherit-my-parents-debt/

[4] https://vicklaw.org/can-i-inherit-the-debt-of-a-loved-one/

[5] https://www.debt.org/advice/deceased-relatives/

[6] https://www.nationaldebtrelief.com/blog/financial-wellness/family-finances/can-you-inherit-debt-what-you-need-to-know-about-your-parents-debt-and-inherited-liabilities/

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_responsibility_laws

[8] https://trustandwill.com/learn/filial-responsibility-law

[9] https://www.carolinafep.com/library/what-happens-to-debt-when-a-person-dies-.cfm

[10] https://www.ncsl.org/resources/map-monday-states-spell-out-when-adult-children-have-a-duty-to-care-for-parents

[11] https://cielitolindoseniorliving.com/filial-laws-in-the-21st-century-balancing-family-care-and-financial-burdens/

[-] greenskye@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 days ago

Spouses yes, but only because things are generally in both names. Children no. They'll try to lie and say it is, but it's not.

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[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

Lol, go fuck yourself, bill collector! You get nothing! You lose! God day sir!

I had some slimeball try that shit with me after my mother died. I told him to take it to the courts so he can get laughed out of the room and pay court costs cuz my mother died pennyless and I'm not making that my problem.

[-] slazer2au@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Depends massively on where you are located.

Debts don't transfer when you die where I am from. Even if the estate can't pay off all the debts with remaining assets the debts do not go to the inheritors.

[-] Doug@piefed.social 88 points 2 days ago

And then I’ll remind you that it’s well within most governments’ capabilities to do their citizens taxes for them. Also any for-profit service you use to do your taxes uses the money you give them to lobby the government to keep the tax system this way. Also your taxes are getting used for unfathomable crimes, and there’s no paper trail or audit done to them to prove your tax dollars are going where you’d like them to.

[-] Apepollo11@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago

In the UK, unless you're self-employed, taxes are just kind of automatic. It just gets handled by your employer.

If you're self-employed, and especially so if you're VAT-registered, it can be a bit fiddly. For most people, however, it's just handled invisibly.

[-] AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

Fun fact: if you're self employed in the UK, you've been able to do your taxes online via a simple (ish) form on the HMRC website, but they're in the process of phasing it out in favour of third-party proprietary software, so some people aren't allowed to use the free web form anymore, and within two or three years, it'll become totally unavailable. Everyone always loves it when the government finds things that Americans complain about and copies it here so we get to complain about it, too.

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[-] marcos@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Those things tend to not all happen at the same place and time.

Specifically, places where bribery is done in the form of lobby usually have audits and paper trails showing where the money goes to.

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[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This week we will be learning how to apply for a marriage certificate, how to find reputable marriage counselling, how to file for divorce, how to pay alimony, and how to skip bail and move to Venezuela

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 8 points 2 days ago

and how to skip bail and move to Venezuela

First lesson: don't become president of Venezuela

[-] volore@scribe.disroot.org 4 points 1 day ago

Oh, goddamn it, now you tell me!

[-] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

If they know how much I owe, why don't they send me a bill?

In USA they tax toilet paper and water, you can't even shit for free.

Also, our labor party is anti-labor, and our smaller government party is pro big government.

Why do we even bother with words? Just do what you want you win

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 20 points 2 days ago

If they know how much I owe, why don't they send me a bill?

Because TurboTax and HR Block lobbied to make it like that

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[-] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago

What a concerning meme from a concerning username.

[-] MeowerMisfit817@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Atleast the username checks out.

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[-] FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago
[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

It's a little ambiguous

[-] brownsugga@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Paying for a CPA to do your taxes (a person, not HR block) usually works out to a net positive financially

Easier than trying to learn the tax code yourself and they can usually maximize your return or minimize your amount owed

Edit; I can do nothing to help the hamster

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this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
1028 points (100.0% liked)

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