For mine, the US tax system is about as f**ked as you can get. Retired people should never have to pay taxes unless they're earning huge amounts of interest on savings and/or investments. Here in Oz, pensioners do not pay personal/income tax unless they have additonal income over about $120 per fortnight.... then they pay about 30c in the dollar or something. Usually, however, most pensioners/retired people pay nothing. Unemployed persons do not pay tax, either... not until they're employed
Here in Oz, we consider pensioners, the disabled and unemployed to be at the low end of the socio-economic scale - the poorest of society - and therefore are not required to pay personal/income tax. And what's this paying taxes into your 80's??? I mean, doesn't the US Gov't think you've contributed enough during your regular working life?
And when a multi-million dollar corporation gets a refund of 429 million dollars after paying nothing in, there is something seriously wrong with the system. Yup, if I were the American people, I'd be calling for heads... and gonads [to prevent like-minded offspring].