In 2024, Americans spent an average of six full workdays a year filling out government forms, according to the government’s own estimates. That’s a total of 12 billion hours, or $430 billion of uncompensated labor a year.
It’s easy to read something like this and say: “Oh, well, government is inefficient. That’s the price we pay for nice things.” But no, it’s not. Social Security, Medicare and the Postal Service are incredibly complex programs that are easy to use. When government is hard to gain access to, it is often by design. Republicans want paying taxes to be a hellish hassle. Programs for the poor are often designed to humiliate, punish, control or scrutinize. How the government works is always a choice. When it works poorly, we should ask why — and we should demand better.  
Annie Lowrey is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the new book “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-time-tax-annie-lowrey?variant=43996208070690" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time — and How to Fix It</a>.” She is also, I should note, my wife, so this is a book whose ideas I have been living with for years. They have quietly infused more than a few episodes of this show. So it’s a thrill to finally get to explore them directly. 
This episode contains strong language.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-time-tax-annie-lowrey?variant=43996208070690" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Time Tax</a> by Annie Lowrey
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/551618/give-people-money-by-annie-lowrey/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Give People Money</a> by Annie Lowrey
<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/W/bo3633527.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Americans Hate Welfare</a> by Martin Gilens
Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/130495/my-silent-war-by-kim-philby/" rel="noopener noreferrer">My Silent War</a> by Kim Philby
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/to-hate-like-this-is-to-be-happy-forever-will-blythe?variant=32122588889122" rel="noopener noreferrer">To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever</a> by Will Blythe
<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Trouble-Feminism-and-the-Subversion-of-Identity/Butler/p/book/9780415389556" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gender Trouble</a> by Judith Butler
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at <a href="mailto:ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com</a>.
You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota, Johnny Simon and Isaac Jones. Our recording engineer is Aman Sahota. Cinematography by Marina King. Video editing by Brandon Belk-Yee, Dani Dillon and Julian Hackney. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser. 
Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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