The facts below are related to tech, e-filing, and the environment.
- In 1981, the first laptop was publically available for purchase, which weighed over 20lbs and had a 5 inch screen. source
- The internet became widely availble in the late 1980s source.
- By 1990 e-filing was available nationwide. source.
- Less than 4% of tax returns were e-filed in 1990. source.
- In the late 1990s, the US government set a goal for 80% of taxes being e-filed. source
- In 2009, the acting head of the EPA authored a declaration that CO2 threatens the public health and welfare of current and future generations. source
- By 2011, the US government enacted legislation that requires paid tax preparers to e-file. source
- In 2016, over 90% of tax returns are e-filed. source
- Laptops weigh about 3lbs and have 15inch screens. source
- In 2017, the acting head of the EPA made a declaration that CO2 is not a primary contributor to global warming source
- Further historical facts from e-filing from the IRS are available here
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The following information is reported by the IRS :
- The total number of tax returns filed in 1990 source:
- 113,717,138 returns filed
- The total number of tax returns filed in 2000 source
- 129,373,500 returns filed
- The total number of tax returns filed in 2010 source1 source2:
- 142,449,000 returns filed
- The total number of tax returns filed in 2016 source1source2:
- 152,544,000
- The total number of tax returns filed in 2025 (used 2020's total primary return figure) source
- 229,259,400
- The total number of tax returns filed in 1990 source:
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The following information is a rough approximation of e-filing percentages. source:
- 1990's: 4% - 25% total returns e-file
- 2000's: 30% - 70% total returns e-file
- 2010's: 70% - 90% total returns e-file
- 2016: 90% total returns e-file
- 2025: 99.9%
The information below lays out the assumptions used to build an approximation for how much CO2 is used to paper file versus efile.
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The International Post Corporation reported in their 2016 sustainability report that mailing 1 letter in 2015 required 37.2g of CO2. We use this number as the lower bound for the carbon used to paper file taxes.
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The total number of hours it takes to file a tax return is assumed to be 9 hours for 70% of returns and 22 hours for the remaining 30% source
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On average, electricity sources emit 1.222lbs CO2 per kWh (0.0005925 metric tons CO2 per kWh) source, which is assumed to be constant across all years.
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Laptops are assumed to require 70 watts the following instantaneous watts source1 source2
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Laptops are assumed to be responsible for all e-filing. [NO SOURCE]
As of 2017-04-07, the LaTeX formulas below are not rending. Please see the Jupyter notebook containing the formulas here: TaxReturnCO2.ipynb.
- The equation for calculating the total CO2 from paper filings:
\begin{equation} paperCO_2 = (number\ of\ returns\ in\ the\ year) * (%paper\ filing) * (CO_2\ per\ mailed\ letter) \end{equation}
- The equation(s) for calculating the total CO2 from e-filings included the assumption for the different time taken to prepare business and non-business tax returns:
\begin{equation}
efile30CO_2 = (number\ of\ returns\ in\ this\ year) * (%efile\ filing) * (30%) * (9\ hrs\ to\ prepare\ return) * (laptop\ watts) * (CO_2\ conversion)
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
efile70CO_2 = (number\ of\ returns\ in\ this\ year) * (%efile\ filing) * (70%) * (22\ hrs\ to\ prepare\ return) * (laptop\ watts) * (CO_2\ conversion)
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
efileCO_2 = efile30CO_2 + efile70CO_2
\end{equation}