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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#241

Post by djur »

janeerie wrote: post #177
j_san wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that far-left was primarily only written because of the tax returns. I followed some links in the article and came to this twitter thread which might explain where that notion comes from: https://x.com/lukerosiak/status/1885523747425399247 (Disclaimer: I don't live in the US and don't want to take any political stance with this)

This is exactly right. Direct File got thrown into the discussion, but it was not the reason that 18F was getting labelled as far-left.

I don't see any evidence that 18F was any more "far-left" than tech workers on average.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#243

Post by djur »

janeerie wrote: post #167
westurner wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Musk ally is moving to close office behind free tax filing program at IRS" (2025) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43222216

18F is not the group behind Direct File, and it's very annoying that this narrative keeps getting spread. DF was created by a team of people from USDS, 18F and the IRS. It's housed within the IRS.

USDS was gutted and turned into DOGE, 18F is shuttered, and IRS is having mass layoffs.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#244

Post by zemvpferreira »

gigatexal wrote: post #226
recursive wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone who thinks it's off topic or doesn't contribute I guess.

Which is odd — all the YC startups likely have another talented pool of eager engineers to likely hire. Or they probably think they’ll just be replacing engineers with angentic ones (sic).

I didn't downvote you but hovered over the button. Your comment came across as empty virtue signalling. I'm not friends with anyone in 18F and while I'd be keen to read a blog post of your describing how you staffed two entire departments from their layoffs, I don't make hiring processes easier for people because they were fired for political purposes. Everyone gets treated equally well regardless where they come from. I also don't take kindly to people telling me what to do with my money.

No offence intended, no intention of arguing, and you seem like a lovely person, but you did ask and I'm feeling grumpy.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#246

Post by ein0p »

djur wrote: post #239
ein0p wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that wonderful transparency and analytics, yet failed to uncover this here multimillion dollar Uniparty/DeepState money laundering scheme (one of many!): https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1889172190282821690 . Uncovered by just one deaf, nonverbal, female hacker working part time (until she was doxxed, she's full time now).

You can't "doxx" someone working as a government advisor. The public has an absolute right to know.

She wasn't working as a government advisor until a few days ago. She was doing this in her spare time, for free. Or rather for negative amounts of money, since she was paying her own AWS fees. Her husband (who is not involved at all) was also doxxed.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#247

Post by mrtesthah »

jwkpiano1 wrote: post #231
labster wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’re not going to get to vote again. There is no future, America’s dreaming.

We sure as shit are or there will be civil conflict. Period.

They’ll try to do elections Putin-style where the votes magically all end up being in favor of the incumbent and the opposition party becomes increasingly criminalized.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#248

Post by ein0p »

janeerie wrote: post #236
ein0p wrote: post #212

Lots of people are hyperventilating about DirectFile, but: 1. IRS itself created DirectFile. 18F merely provided some unquantifiable "support" 2. DirectFile is not shut down.

I don't know why you're getting downvoted, but you are correct. It's essential that as many people as possible know about and use Direct File this year, to provide evidence that it ought to be continued.

+1. I agree. The government should not shut down a way to collect revenues.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#249

Post by tac19 »

djur wrote: post #245
tac19 wrote: post #242

[flagged]

You've been "told" that? Who's been telling you that? I've seen some people on the Internet say it, sure. Why do they matter to you?

If you think the people who support Trump haven't heard this message, then I don't know what to tell you. They have also failed to hear what sounds to them like love-for-country, from the opposite side.

We can argue til the cows come home how true it is or not, but it has played a role in what we're seeing unfold.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#250

Post by jandrewrogers »

acdha wrote: post #144
kccqzy wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Taxes aren’t hard but people have been encouraged to talk about it like it’s a colonoscopy by Roto-rooter. Someone can have all W-2 income and only take the standard deduction, but thanks to that messaging they’ll act like filing your own taxes is incredibly dangerous with a high chance of ruining you for life (I know someone whose parent worked for the IRS as an auditor and they noted that many people ended up neutr…

The minute you save a little money and have a few investments it can start to become complicated quickly. Yet you don't have/make enough money to justify the expense of hiring a professional to properly sort it out. This actually can become a giant headache because it is difficult to be certain that you've done it correctly and not overpaid.

Sure, if you only have a W-2 then it is pretty simple. The issue is that over time people have a tendency to accrue other tax reportable activities as a function of age. It actively discourages people from making some types of potentially productive investments because of the additional tax complexity.

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