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

Post by dosy » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 4:55 AM UTC

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…

Post by BurningFrog » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 4:58 AM UTC

gowld wrote: post #326

Dig1t wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you're right that people in that camp are unlikely to review their tax filings from their 3rd party. However there is an incentive for that 3rd part tax company to save their customer as much as they possibly can. The bigger the refund, the happier the customer and the more likely they are to come back next year and give you more money. In the Planet Money episode they spoke with the Republican dude and his bigg…

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.

Post by DubiousPusher » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 4:58 AM UTC

blindwatchmaker wrote: post #379

DubiousPusher wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Post by brandonmenc » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 5:03 AM UTC

tdeck wrote: post #407

rattlesnakedave wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Income taxes in the US applied to a much smaller segment of the population before WW II than they do today.

Post by lightedman » Wed, Apr 10, 2019, 5:06 AM UTC

metaphor wrote: post #369

Dig1t wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, you're right that people in that camp are unlikely to review their tax filings from their 3rd party. However there is an incentive for that 3rd part tax company to save their customer as much as they possibly can. The bigger the refund, the happier the customer and the more likely they are to come back next year and give you more money. In the Planet Money episode they spoke with the Republican dude and his bigg…

> The bigger the refund, the happier the customer and the more likely they are to come back next year and give you more money. Doubt it. We're talking 1040EZ filings by people in the 22% and lower tax brackets, not complex itemizations typical of 24%+ tax bracket filers. The 5-digit PIN from the previous year's e-filing that's required if you want to expediently e-file this year is enough. Most people aren't going to…