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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#181

Post by retzkek »

hackyhacky wrote: post #123
yongjik wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There’s at least one, although as a governor he may not count.

> From the Department of Education, Medicaid, the CDC, and more - Trump and Elon Musk are gutting the agencies and programs that protect Americans every single day.

https://bsky.app/profile/jbpritzker.bsky.social/post/3lisgh4...

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#182

Post by timdev2 »

timewizard wrote: post #71
purple_ferret wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the tweet that prompted Elon's 'deleted' tweet: >18F, the far left government wide computer office that was recently taken over by allies of @elonmusk, is also the same agency that built Elizabeth Warren's "Direct File" tax program. >Direct File puts the government in charge of preparing peoples tax returns for them. https://nitter.poast.org/alx/status/1886415751528972515 ? Clearly, they think there is somethi…

First of all, it's the US Governments, and thus the citizens, Direct File tax program. Unless Elizabeth Warren personally wrote the code I don't think her brand deserves to be on it. Second, are we pretending it was a good system? "Direct File is now open and available in 25 participating states." Wow. Half the country! That's _almost_ useful. "You can't use Direct File if you had other types of income, such as gig e…

I don't get your strong objection. A 1.0 release that is fit for use by >80% of the addressable market, and gets high marks from those users is a "boondoggle"?

Perhaps you overestimate the fraction of taxpayers that itemize deductions, have gig/rental/business income?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#183

Post by jedberg »

WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #164
jedberg wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> They claim that if the government could calculate taxes for you, then it would be too easy... to add new taxes that you wouldn't notice. As a non-American whose country break out the VAT into a separate line item, with the explicit intent to inform consumers how much tax they are paying, and who has shopped in countries where they roll it all into one, I can say that this 'claim' is absolutely what happens in pract…

Are you saying the only way that citizens are informed of the current tax rates is through price tags?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#184

Post by vkou »

BrenBarn wrote: post #179
vkou wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The purple fringes of the congressional GOP would be crucified by their constituents if they were doing this shit, which is why it is sitting back and letting the executive do everything that the party always wanted, but couldn't, while they keep their hands free. The legislature could stop this, yes. But it won't, because he is carrying out the program the GOP always wished it could have done, but couldn't. Once thi…

> And given just how fucking fast a dedicated executive can destroy anything it doesn't like, there's literally nothing the Dems could have done to prevent this. It doesn't matter what laws they passed when they had control of government, when the current executive simply doesn't follow the law. Oh yes there is. It's just more radical than they were prepared to admit was necessary. It's things like ramming through th…

Yes, I suppose they can be blamed for not doing something like that when they get a 49.8% mandate. It would also alienate half their voter base, because it actually believes in the systems and due process.

(We can also blame them for not imprisoning, quicky and fairly trying, and executing Trump for sedition and treason when they could.)

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#185

Post by pstuart »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #84
araes wrote: post #66

Bad result for America, as at least the two that I've been familiar with have both been dramatically better website implementations than much of the federal government. GSA, Digital Analytics Program: https://analytics.usa.gov/ Huge amounts of data about how government websites are used including: locations (cities, countries), languages, referral sources, media sources, devices, browsers, OS, website destination, an…

The goal is to make government as dysfunctional as possible (beside the part that enforces corruption [for your side]), so people want it to get smaller and smaller (except for the corrupt parts that benefit exclusively them), so that it costs less, so that they pay less taxes, so that they have even more money (that they don't need). They definitely do not care if this "makes things worse". Often, it's intended.

This needs to be repeated to anybody who'll listen to it.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#187

Post by astrange »

Animats wrote: post #150
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?

Heavy lobbying by Intuit/TurboTax for years.[1] [1] https://www.opensecrets.org/search?q=TurboTax&type=site#gsc....

It's not TurboTax, it's Grover Norquist. Republicans are already ideologically against easy tax filing because they're against taxes, they don't need corporate backing for that.

Using OpenSecrets in particular is misleading because it shows you donations fron "employees of corporations" to political campaigns and then people pretend it's donations from "corporations", which is obviously not the same thing. (and not allowed either)

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#189

Post by hypothesis »

gigatexal wrote: post #188
gigatexal wrote: post #142

We need to help our 18F friends find work and get back on their feet. Open up your teams, your HR hiring processes, and let’s help these folks.

Who would downvote this?

Same brigade who flags all those topics above hostile government takeover?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#190

Post by WorkerBee28474 »

jedberg wrote: post #183
WorkerBee28474 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They claim that if the government could calculate taxes for you, then it would be too easy... to add new taxes that you wouldn't notice. As a non-American whose country break out the VAT into a separate line item, with the explicit intent to inform consumers how much tax they are paying, and who has shopped in countries where they roll it all into one, I can say that this 'claim' is absolutely what happens in pract…

Are you saying the only way that citizens are informed of the current tax rates is through price tags?

Why on earth would I say that?
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