How about simplifying the tax code so we don't need computer programs at all?
Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
371–380 of 717 posts
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#372Earlier quoted context omitted.
If complicated taxes are a Republican anti-tax strategy, why did Reagan and the 1980s republicans pursue a strategy of vastly simplifying the tax code? Doing taxes is a tax -- in hours and fees. Only the wealthiest people who can spend $10K on tax prep to save $100K via loophole deductions, oh.
Simplifying the tax code in the 80s was the public sales pitch. The real strategy was to dramatically cut taxes on the wealthy (e.g. by eliminating the top several marginal tax brackets). But keep in mind, the Democrats controlled congress, so reform had to gain bipartisan support.
No-one paid the top brackets because the tax code at that point was riddled with ways to generate tax losses that reduced liability. The tax reform really was a good thing (unlike 90% of what happened under the Reagan administration)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986#Passive...
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think this is a very level-headed view of lobbying and I want to say that I appreciate your comment. It’s enticing to imagine that Intuit is building a new pool on Chuck Schumer’s vacation property, and in a dark room somewhere a bunch of fat white guys are lighting this bill in fire with the ends of their cigars. One other factor is that in “government time” we’re not far removed from the Healthcare.gov fiasco and…
This seems pretty in line with 18F's mission and skillset.
Didn't they basically get lobotomized and declawed recently? Like they lost a couple people, but due to the hiring freeze couldn't replace them.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#374[deleted]
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#375"The Ways and Means chair, Neal, received $16,000 in contributions from the two companies in the last two election cycles, according to the ProPublica report." It's embarrassing and absurd how cheap it is to buy off congress from making everyone's lives easier. Can't a gofundme raise more than 16k to counter them?
Well that’s quite a slippery slope... it’s going to be corporations vs citizens in a bidding war making all politicians multi millionaires? How about we go back to when politician wasn’t a full time job, and you barely got paid for it? Make it illegal to pay politicians for any public services apart from a set nominal salary.
Just playing devil’s advocate:
What if a fixed/low salary only attracts the already-rich whose interests will never be well aligned with the general public?
If you want superstar government that is the very best at what it is supposed to do, you need a superstar salary structure, something more like professional athletics. Our president should be paid millions (with complex incentive structures for measurable achievements), but under “at will” employment terms and accountable to the people.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but if the US tax code weren't so darn complicated wouldn't that reduce the chances of the IRS totally screwing up? I just finished my taxes and filing taxes in the US is such a s tshow. But where do we start? We want to simplify filing, but that might depend on simplifying the tax code, which might be orders of magnitude more difficult. Sigh!
that might depend on simplifying the tax code, which might be orders of magnitude more difficult Actually, it would be trivial to simplify the tax code. It couldn't be done overnight, it might take a long weekend. All you have to do is come up with a very simple tax scheme with no complexities and no loopholes. Why couldn't a simple tax system be contained in a 10 page law? At first make it optional for anyone to swi…
Good point. But I think lobbyists and special interests would throw a wrench into all of that.
If we simplify the tax code, some group somewhere will no longer benefit. I'm sure they and their lobbyists will fight extremely hard to make sure this part of the tax code remains. Multiply this by all the different groups that would be in a similar position and now you might see why I think simplifying the tax code would be extremely difficult.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
A better way to do 2 would be to do away with withholding. After a year of that we’d see a radically different tax system.
Interesting in theory but in practice most Americans do not have the financial literacy to budget properly to meet taxes. What happens when you don't have the cash to pay? Do we then see a whole new sector of predatory loans? Imprisonment? Increasing unpayable fines? None of those are good ideas, yet when things like this happen, our system has already fallen into these pitfalls. Witholding is an essential idea. What…
This is actually how things were done pre WW2. If people were able to budget for it then, why not now? The current system makes filing taxes and getting refunded seem like a reward, it should probably be a bit painful to do your taxes.
Without the painful transparency, it becomes too easy for the government to nearly invisibly turn up the tax rate on individuals to pay for whatever boondoggle or foreign war they see fit.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#378Disappointed by the overwhelmingly negative commentary here.
There are multiple private companies providing this service for low amount, as many have mentioned; for free for incomes below a threshold.
1) Why would you want the IRS to duplicate this effort and compete with these companies? Remember 'Free' in this context means paid for by tax dollars. Do you think the IRS is going to spend less to implement a filing system than one of the existing vendors has? If they do it in-house, do they even have the expertise? If they contract it out, is that much different from what we have now?
2) Everyone needs to file state taxes anyway. Seems unlikely the IRS is going to handle this, as it adds a great deal of complexity and isn't really part of their mandate. So if you create a free IRS filing system, then people still need to go to one of the existing vendors and import their info and pay to file state taxes anyway.
There are good reasons to think the IRS creating a system is a bad idea. Blaming passage on a few $K in lobbying is lazy.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure it's just coincidental that senators and their family/friends frequently get lucrative positions on the boards of various companies, investment sweeteners, and actual positions in these companies for family. For example Joe Biden, a leading Democrat, has been in bed with the credit card industry for most of his career and supported/written legislation in their interest. MBNA was one of his biggest donors and…
There's no coincidence about the revolving door and corporate nepotism. But it's not as simple as I give you money, you employ my kid. I kind of wish it were because that would be much easier to do something about. Those things are just the long term effects of paying for access. The frequent close work between lobbyists, politicians and career servants lead to friendships and strong network effects. I'm not defendin…
Sorry, but it is that simple. We live in a second gilded age with near total regulatory and legislative capture and trying to soft pedal it by using euphemisms like 'strong networks' does not obfuscate the fact that this is a commercial relationship between bought politicians and the corporations that buy them.
In the face of overwhelming pieces of evidence, year after year after year like the article being discussed here, doing so is just pointless sophistry and contrarianism for the sake of it.
Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seconding this. I wish more people understood that "lobbying" is largely making a case to congressional staff , not another word for bribery. And half the problem is that we need more lobbying, not less. Donor access is an issue, but I think the larger problem that no one knows how to address with campaign finance laws of any kind is that someone with enough money can simply use that money to hire an army of persuasi…
At the end of the day, if money buys access and money tends to accumulate in a power law distribution it means that access - and thus influence or even speech are not equally distributed. So, while it may not be a bribe, it’s hard to see it as fair. Moreover, if paid access is required and that payment goes to the politician - or their campaign which is just an extension of the process to keep them in power, I’m not…
I don't think anyone here is arguing that it isn't deeply problematic, just that thinking of it as paying for a bill to get passed misses the point.
It's an important distinction to make, because almost all reporting and outrage about bribery is about quid-pro-quo: newspaper reports about politicians spending time at five star resorts etc. etc.
If we enact laws (or social pressure) to stop this, but the lobbyists remain in the ear of politicians by unpaid means (going to the right schools, having the right friends) then all that outrage has accomplished nothing.