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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#121

Post by Jtsummers »

nsxwolf wrote: post #50
multjoy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What’s the appropriate number of employees for the federal government?

Depends on what Congress decides the federal government should be doing, which in turn depends on who people elect to Congress.

In general, the number should be sufficient to meet legal obligations with a bit of lag as it goes up or down as agencies and programs come and go or find their scope changing. If the departments cannot meet their legal obligations because they have too few people (consider if tax return processing takes a year), then staffing probably needs to increase. If most people are idle or grossly underutilized, and the work doesn't have a high seasonal variance like tax processing, then the department or agency should be reduced in size. If the work is seasonal and requires low expertise, then hiring can be seasonal too.

It's not that complicated.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#122

Post by rayiner »

miltonlost wrote: post #26
rayiner wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Federal workers swear an oath to defend the COnsitution against enemies foreign and domestic. When the President is commiting crimes in public and is a blatant tool of Russia, the "good federal workers" must resist as part of their OATH TO THE COUNTRY. It's their oath to resist Trump.

This was January 2017.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#123

Post by hackyhacky »

yongjik wrote: post #119
xyst wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got to make room for the trillion dollar tax cuts. Trickle down economics, right? Can’t wait for the pitchforks to rise up against the billionaires that created this mess.

This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends. These days I'm getting skeptical of these anti-billionaire quips. Sounds like a great segue to "all politicians are the same because they're in the billionaire's pocket," and now look at what that led us into.

> This isn't caused by some nebulous alliance of "billionaires," this is caused by one particular billionaire, Elon Musk, and his friends.

I am waiting for all the "good billionaires" to step up and do something about it.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#124

Post by adamisom »

trts wrote: post #31

a couple pages that describe the agency and their projects, for those who were not familiar. the agency was created in 2014. https://18f.gsa.gov/our-work/ https://www.govtech.com/civic/what-is-18f.html Key Projects : Beta.FEC.gov: Revamped the Federal Election Commission's website for easier record access. MyUSCIS: Simplified the immigration process for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS ICAM De…

yeah this agency is kinda what I imagined DOGE was created to be. alas now I am just confused

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#125

Post by Philpax »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #100
xyst wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

No, absolutely wrong. Neoliberalism is about a big, functional government that is utopian and takes care of everything for you. "You own nothing, and you'll be happy." You can argue in practice it's terrible (subjective, no one really cares about your opinion). But it's hard to argue its GOAL is to be small.

Baffling definition. How did you develop this impression?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#126

Post by bongodongobob »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #64
Ancapistani wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> the removal of existing power structures within the government that support left-wing causes. Whoa, I thought DOGE was just trying to root out waste and corruption to save America from its deficit, but now you tell me it's to cement right wing loyalty in the deep state?!

Lol yeah he said the quiet part out loud. Whoopsie.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#127

Post by Finnucane »

collinmcnulty wrote: post #118
Finnucane wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

no, the right wants you to keep paying Turbotax.

This is commonly repeated but incorrect. The Nyquist pledge is a far more powerful force keeping tax filing complex than Intuit lobbying. This is not a conspiracy theory, this is a stated practice of Americans for Tax Reform, the anti-tax conservative group.

they both have the same goals. that doesn’t make it not true.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#128

Post by jedberg »

kccqzy wrote: post #97
stouset wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The right wants everything related to taxes to be as difficult and painful as possible, in the hopes it will encourage the government to lower them.

I have heard of this argument many times but it doesn't make sense to me. Most often, the ways to lower taxes come from things like finding new deductions and credits that you didn't know apply to you. This is what the difficult part is. Otherwise, taxes are simple if you just have some W-2 and 1099-INT or 1099-DIV, and claim the standard deduction. Indeed if taxes are too difficult or painful, a reasonable person wo…

You know how everyone complains "oh I can't do anything this weekend I have to do my taxes"? They want that pain, so that you bitch and moan about the heavy burden of taxation, and then support the party that claims they want to reduce the heavy burden of taxation.

But also, Intuit spends a lot money lobbying.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#129

Post by namuol »

colechristensen wrote: post #37
purple_ferret wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon literally said they would be 'deleted' for being 'far left,' specifically for working on direct file. Yet, people still seem baffled by what's going on and refuse to accept the maliciousness behind his and Trump's actions. He came out against a public technology service! It's like Bill Gates being confused about USAID being dismantled and being willfully ignorant that the people dismantling it believe he's part…

There are things that I at least understand, but who is opposed to direct tax filing and … why?

Intuit

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#130

Post by jedberg »

Reason077 wrote: post #41

Amazing how the idea of being able to file tax returns online, without paying for a commercial service to do it, is considered far-left extremism in the US. You’d think that simplifying tax returns and reducing costs in the taxation system would be something the right could get behind?

They claim that if the government could calculate taxes for you, then it would be too easy for the left to add new taxes that you wouldn't notice.

The real kicker of course is that if you don't file your taxes, they actually do calculate your taxes for you, and send you a bill. It just includes the non-payment penalty and doesn't include donations.

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