It doesn’t matter how old you are. We’re all distraught over taxes.
With Tax Day fast approaching, some Gen Zers are saying that the stress of filing taxes is leading them to their therapist’s office.
According to a recent Cash App Taxes survey, 1 in 4 members of Gen Z said they needed therapy to deal with tax-induced anxiety and stress, while more than half of respondents said that filing their taxes has already brought them to tears, or they anticipate that it will this year. Additionally, 62% of first-time filers saying they aren’t sure where to get their W-2s or 1099s.
“It’s clear that many Americans — but particularly younger filers — view filing their taxes as a confusing, anxiety-inducing experience that’s painful to navigate,” the product lead for Cash App Taxes, Erika Carney, said in a statement.
Additionally, according to a 2023 study by Empower, more than half of Gen Z and their millennial counterparts said that their financial state keeps them up at night. For good reason too, considering the younger generations have, on average, accumulated more debt “chasing the American Dream” than their parents or grandparents, the New York Post reported.
College tuition, rent, grocery prices, and more have all been inflated over the past several years, putting pressure on the youngest generations to make ends meet.
This, combined with a federal tax rate of anything from 10% to 37% of a person’s annual income, can undoubtedly increase stress — especially when Americans consider how the federal government spends their hard-earned dollars. Studies that appear to make little sense and show little hope for improving Americans’ futures, billions of dollars in untraceable foreign aid, and most recently, $7.4 billion in student debt cancellation for a small percentage of the U.S. population all amount to reckless overspending that undermines Americans’ spending power.
