Teaching Taxes.
Something I hear from time to time is the idea that we should dispense with classes like calculus and trigonometry and replace high-school math requirements with more practical subjects like financial literacy. Along these lines, I've frequently heard people suggest that we teach kids how to file taxes, or navigate health insurance systems. There's some substance to the criticisms leveled at high-school calculus and the like — among those, that most students choose or are required to retake the classes in college — and what troubles me isn't the idea that we should devote more time to finance or other life skills that many children are unlikely to pick up at home; it's the idea that poorly (and politically) designed systems like the U.S. tax code or insurance system should be accepted and taught as certainties of life.
— when, in fact, they are not: The 10-Second Tax Return, by Derek Thompson
“But the excruciating pain of tax season is just another example of negative American exceptionalism. In fact, about one-half of American taxpayers earn all their income from one employer’s wages (which the IRS can see) and interest from one bank (which the IRS can find out without much effort). The IRS could easily send tens of millions of individuals their nearly completed taxes by mail—or even, by text.”