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Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

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Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#81

Post by ohlookabird »

justtopost wrote: post #66
teekert wrote: post #64

I feel sorry for people living in the US, how can they call this a democracy anymore? Demos means people. You are ruled by companies at this point.

Don't feel sorry, we are fine. Still the most free people on earth.

Clearly, it can vary a lot what people consider free. And therefore, this statement isn't true in general. The US does indeed have a lot of things I would consider freedoms, yes. But in Germany, for instance, I feel it is a great freedom to not have to worry about most healthcare issues, regardless of their income. A freedom (in my perspective) I wouldn't have in the US. There are other issues that fall into that category as well (free to not really have to worry about school shootings, free to not have to worry about people (including kids) to find a gun in the fields, free to not have to worry about insurance of people when having an accident, etc.).

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#82

Post by zimpenfish »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #74
fsloth wrote: post #25

Oh man, I've had government provided automatic filings for ages now (Finland). US is really odd how it emphasizes the benefit of the middleman over the benefit of the individual citizen (it seems). Or have I completely misunderstood what's going on here?

We can file ours online in the UK, it's easy to use and pretty reliable (now).

Also, AFAIK, most people don't even need to file because HMRC handles the simple situations automatically (I've never had to do a return, for example.)

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#83

Post by petschge »

justtopost wrote: post #66
teekert wrote: post #64

I feel sorry for people living in the US, how can they call this a democracy anymore? Demos means people. You are ruled by companies at this point.

Don't feel sorry, we are fine. Still the most free people on earth.

You are not, you just have constant propaganda to that effect and you believe it because most of you never leave your country. And that is not just me personal opinion. Going over a (incomplete) sample of freedom indices listed on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices we have:

Rank 6 on the Economic Freedom index https://www.fraserinstitute.org/economic-freedom/map?geozone...

Rank 17 on the Human Freedom index https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/human-fr...

Rank 45 on the Press Freedom Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

Rank 10 on the World Index of Moral Freedom http://www.fundalib.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/World-Ind...

Rank 53 in the Freedom of the World index https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2018-table-cou...

Rank 12 in the Index of Economic Freedom https://www.heritage.org/index/ranking/

That is not a bad score overall, but is a far cry from an unchallenged "we are the most free".

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#84

Post by sangnoir »

cascom wrote: post #20
komali2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>sneak in stealth tax changes I don't think we exist in a world where this is possible.

Poor phrasing on my part - I’m not implying they would insert new taxes on the sly, but rather that in areas where tax payers have some discretion, the government software would default to the least favorable treatment for the tax payer, the effect being a higher net tax...

What would stop people from consulting to get more favorable taxes? Very few people need tax optimization[1], and government default doesn't preclude it - maybe Intuit could offer this as a service instead. In any case, I don't think the net tax would be higher than the current one that includes paying hundreds for TurboTax or a tax accountant (multiplied by all filers).

1. A guess. The majority think of rebate as "money from the government", which partially explains why tax-preparation costs as much as it does.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#85

Post by reallydontask »

fsloth wrote: post #25

Oh man, I've had government provided automatic filings for ages now (Finland). US is really odd how it emphasizes the benefit of the middleman over the benefit of the individual citizen (it seems). Or have I completely misunderstood what's going on here?

Is this similar to PAYE or do you actually have to submit a tax return but it's pre-filled for you?

In the UK, most people don't have to submit a tax return at all. Not sure the actual cost of this, but the convenience is unparalleled.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#86

Post by kwindla »

nemo44x wrote: post #13
xbryanx wrote: post #8

This is pure anecdote, but... A NOAA employee told me about the time their boss caught holy hell from a Senator because the NWS had the gall to update a particular weather product they offered by adding color to the map. Evidently someone had a business essentially downloading the free NOAA data and improving it by coloring the maps and selling that as a product. When NOAA made it free, they called their Senator in a…

Michael Lewis wrote about the NOAA and this exact type of thing in his last book. In essence the NOAA spends lots of tax payer money to collect weather data but can’t do much with it other than give it away exclusively to a handful of entities that can repackage and sell it. The eventual dystopian end state could be where the NOAA can’t alert people to tornados and only those subscribing to a weather service would be…

Yes! The Michael Lewis book is called _The Fifth Risk_, and it's an amazing read. It's a series of contrasting stories: earnest government workers who have dedicated their careers to protecting all of us from threats like nuclear proliferation, on the one hand, and on the other politicians and narrowly interested lobbyists who view government as either a threat to their self-interest or an opportunity to tilt the economic playing field.

https://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Risk-Michael-Lewis/dp/132400264...

From the NPR review of the book:

> Take Trump's choice to head National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Commerce Department agency that, among other responsibilities, oversees the National Weather Service. For that critical position, Trump has chosen Barry Myers, who is CEO of the private forecasting service AccuWeather. As Lewis points out, AccuWeather repackages the weather service's own data and sells it to private concerns for a profit. Myers at one time argued that "the government should get out of the forecasting business." In other words, you want to know if it's going to rain tomorrow? Or which way that hurricane is tracking? Well, buy our app, or subscribe to our forecasts. Myers has yet to be confirmed.

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/652563904/the-fifth-risk-pain...

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#87

Post by yeahitslikethat »

I just fill out my taxes the best i can and submit it and if the irs corrects it I send them more or cash the check.

It's not hard and no accountant had ever dabbed me more than they cost.

If you can code you can fill out a form. Every year I day in going to automate it but it's easier to just fill out the forms.

I'm looking forward to an audit for the free tax advice.

Be legit. Stop worrying. Keep living.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#88

Post by dnadler »

ohlookabird wrote: post #81
justtopost wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't feel sorry, we are fine. Still the most free people on earth.

Clearly, it can vary a lot what people consider free. And therefore, this statement isn't true in general. The US does indeed have a lot of things I would consider freedoms, yes. But in Germany, for instance, I feel it is a great freedom to not have to worry about most healthcare issues, regardless of their income. A freedom (in my perspective) I wouldn't have in the US. There are other issues that fall into that cat…

That's a commonly made point, but to be a little pedantic you are definitely twisting the definition of the word 'freedom'. Those are benefits to be sure, and they may certainly be better than the US's, but not really 'freedoms'.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#89

Post by yeahitslikethat »

Arubis wrote: post #76

It's a little bizarre to me that the very act of paying an independent CPA to run through my taxes feels like a deliberate anti-regulatory capture decision, but there it is.

Imagine if the power company made YOU figure out how much you owed them every month.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#90

Post by baud147258 »

fsloth wrote: post #25

Oh man, I've had government provided automatic filings for ages now (Finland). US is really odd how it emphasizes the benefit of the middleman over the benefit of the individual citizen (it seems). Or have I completely misunderstood what's going on here?

I would love automatic filing in France. The process isn't that complicated, as long as it's just a single income. I dread the day where I'll sell my shares or qualify for a tax-return, because it's not going to be fun.
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