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How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

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Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#321

Post by millstone »

foota wrote: post #253
School-Cotton wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it fair to give a deduction for mortgage? Buying a home instead of renting is just choosing to invest in real estate instead of anything else you might invest in. Why artificially subsidize one extremely illiquid and volatile type of investment?

One could argue that by subsidizing home ownership you redistribute profit from people that rent out housing to those that would have been renting that housing.

Mortgage interest is also deductible for rentiers. If owner-occupied mortgages were not deductible, it would be redistributing income from those who live in the properties they own, to those who own property and live elsewhere.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#322

Post by millstone »

tuna-piano wrote: post #270

I haven't read a legitimate argument against the IRS calculating taxes automatically, but here it is. The more invisible taxes are to the individual person, the less they think about that money (and the higher taxes can go without them complaining too much). Rent feels expensive because every month you write a check for rent. However, for many people, taxes are a much bigger expense than rent. But taxes don't feel as…

In 2014 the Obama administration provided a "tax receipt" so you can see how much you paid and what you got for it. Cool idea. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/2014-taxreceipt

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#324

Post by Gustomaximus »

ruleabidinguser wrote: post #285
SpaceRaccoon wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, funding a $600 billion military industrial complex [0]. Just think, your complete yearly taxes were probably almost enough for a single JDAM [1] which was then dropped on Iraq, in a war where 13% of all civilians were killed directly by US-led forces [2], and many more in the chaos that ensued from the invasion. But you love it. [0] - https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spendi... [1] - https://…

Why precisely is having the worlds largest military bad? Do you think it doesnt add any value? It seems theres a lot of people outside of America who'd like to see it shrunk for very bad reasons. Why not keep the military and solve our problems without it? We need it to be safe now, and until we've already solved our problems, we'll still need it. Obviously it doesn't always work well and it definitely causes problem…

The bad is there is an opportunity cost of dollars spent. And the US could likely still dominate global firepower rankings at half the current spend, meanwhile this saving could significantly improve the education or health system with that money. Or reduce the tax burden on people. Or simply bank it to reduce the debt and burden of repayment for future years. Lots you could do with hundreds of billions.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#325

Post by riffraff »

ruleabidinguser wrote: post #285
SpaceRaccoon wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, funding a $600 billion military industrial complex [0]. Just think, your complete yearly taxes were probably almost enough for a single JDAM [1] which was then dropped on Iraq, in a war where 13% of all civilians were killed directly by US-led forces [2], and many more in the chaos that ensued from the invasion. But you love it. [0] - https://www.nationalpriorities.org/campaigns/military-spendi... [1] - https://…

Why precisely is having the worlds largest military bad? Do you think it doesnt add any value? It seems theres a lot of people outside of America who'd like to see it shrunk for very bad reasons. Why not keep the military and solve our problems without it? We need it to be safe now, and until we've already solved our problems, we'll still need it. Obviously it doesn't always work well and it definitely causes problem…

I think people argue not with having the largest military, but with having military expenses which are 3 times those of China and 10 times those of Russia, and with the rest of the big countries being US allies.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#326

Post by wingerlang »

slac wrote: post #295
spectrum1234 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What country on earth has these 100% free things?

Sweden. Free university, no fee healthcare for kids, a few dollars for adults. But it's a sketchy country... be careful if you go there. #lastnightinsweeden

You'll find sketchy things in any country. "Be careful" is quite the exaggeration in my opinion. Not going to the worst neighbourhoods during Friday nights applies to anywhere.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#327

Post by wingerlang »

spectrum1234 wrote: post #273
wingerlang wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people from countries with free education and health care are ok with taxes. Me included.

What country on earth has these 100% free things?

Unless you're making some point that taxes = paying (which is true) -- Sweden.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#328

Post by chipperyman573 »

curun1r wrote: post #271
tbrock wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anyone build a data center to host tax software? This is almost the cononcial / text book example of when you would opt to host on a cloud provider.

The above mentioned security. The workload, which has two spikes in January and April, moderate traffic in between and is basically non-existent April through December is pretty much the poster child for cloud since you could spin down capacity in the 8 months where you don't see much traffic. This is why Intuit has publicly stated that they want to go all in on AWS. But, at least when I was there, the internal secur…

Doesn't AWS offer HIPPA-Compliant servers? If I can trust a service with my medical records I don't see why they can't store banking data.

A lot of financial institutions use the cloud already: http://fortune.com/2016/02/25/yes-banks-do-use-aws/

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#329

Post by stouset »

Hermel wrote: post #318
chasing wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I love paying taxes. Not because I like having less money in my bank account, but because I understand what paying taxes represents.

In what country are you paying taxes? And is your tax rate above or below 30%? Based on anecdotal evidence, I think that people paying more than 30% rarely ever "love" paying taxes. Below that, it seems to feel much more ok (I'm also below 30% and - while I'm not enthusiastic about paying taxes - it feels like a fair deal).

40-45% combined rate here. I'm thrilled to be privileged enough to be in this tax rate, and while I disagree on some of where my taxes go to, I'm upset with that distribution more than I am the rate. I do not want my taxes to be lowered.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#330

Post by LoonyBalloony »

paulddraper wrote: post #252
jjeaff wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost that simple in the US if your situation is that simple. What happens in NZ if you make $400 selling vintage cabbage patch dolls on eBay? What if you earned $1k in returns on your investment account? What if you are renting your place out on Airbnb? If all you have is a simple income in the US, then the 1040ez is a single page and you can file it for free online if you make under a certain amount. You can…

> you can file it for free online if you make under a certain amount. Plus, tons of third-parties will file returns for free, even ones more complicated than 1040ez.

> even ones more complicated than 1040ez.

Could you list any of these websites or PM me please?

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