New York Times: “IN the digital age, filing income tax returns should be a snap.  The important data from employers and financial institutions have already been sent to the government’s computers.  Yet taxpayers are still required to perform the anachronistic chore of preparing a return from scratch.  And, in many cases, they pay a software company for the privilege.  Requiring taxpayers to file returns without being told what the government already knows makes as much sense ‘as if Visa sent customers a blank piece of paper, requiring that they assemble their receipts, list their purchases — and pay a fine if they forget one,’ said Joseph Bankman, a professor at the Stanford Law School.”