Ask HN: How do you handle VAT / Sales Tax accounting as B2C SaaS?

One of the most horrible aspect of the tax system is that individuals are held responsible for ensuring that they calculate and pay the correct amounts. It's kind of messed up that not only we have to pay tax, but the government doesn't even have the responsibility of telling us how much we owe it or what specific work which it did is covered by the payment.

Every other entity on this planet who wants to obtain money from another entity needs to tell them exactly how much is owed and exactly what goods and services are covered by that payment.

But the government not only doesn't have to report what work it did to warrant the payment, it doesn't even need to tell us the specific amount which we owe it; it's on us to figure that out... Figuring that out is complex and sometimes expensive too; many people can't afford. The gig economy is creating complex tax situations even for poor people. If we calculate incorrectly, then we suffer consequences. It's oppressive.

I know some people will read this and think I'm off on a wild tangent... But my friend, I'm actually addressing the core of the issue here. It's you who is on a wild tangent addressing superficial edge cases. The superficial cases aren't worth discussing; VAT, GST, CGT, income Tax and all other acronyms... Just don't participate in this system. Sell your business, change countries, go on unemployment benefits or whatever until this issue is fixed. How can a rational person operate in this environment? I can't believe some people work for fun. It's the most rigged, boring game ever.

You're not on a tangent at all, you're 100% correct.

It's shameful (in the most absolute sense of the term) that an entire class of people who contribute nothing to the world get to dictate—at the barrel of a gun or threat of imprisonment no less—that we owe them money that they then go and spend carelessly and without accountability (and this is independent of political beliefs—every single politician and bureaucrat is guilty). It's made even worse that they can't be bothered to make it easy to pay them (which is in their best interest). They exist solely to waste time and give otherwise unskilled people something to do.

I sincerely hope that the younger generations see all of this for what it is and aggressively work to remove it. "Oppressive" is exactly the right term. It hurts the prosperity of the majority in favor of a helpless minority (and no, I don't mean the people who actually need our help like the disabled—I explicitly mean government employees).

Love how the person who did a “AI-powered code snippets manager and generator and … Mod CSS framework” just casually dismisses millions of people around the globe who ensure safe drinking water, distribution of vaccines, maintenance of nuclear warheads, provision of public health, etc., et fucking cetera, as a class of people who “contribute nothing to the world.”

Very cool - good luck with Mod. Can’t wait until it changes my life as much as living in a functional, stable society (well, at least until a couple months ago, in my case, lol).