Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–288 of 288 posts

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#281

Post by nox101 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #139
nox101 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't that be the case? People put up with raises in all kinds of expenses without really noticing or complaining. Why would it be any different with taxes?

it is just a bit hypocritical that the anti-tax people, who cloak in words about small government, are opposed to a less intrusive form of government services that would also generally cost taxpayers less (since Turbotax et. al. are always steering users of their products into higher tiers they probably don't need) "we want to make your life worse so that you align with our political goals" is generally a terrible th…

You're spinning their POV. Their POV is, harder taxes = less taxes, easier taxes = more taxes. I'm not saying that will work for them but I can see it as defendable idea.

I think many of them would also like to see a ban on auto tax deduction. Their POV is if everyone has to send a check to the government they'll vote for less taxes where as with auto-deduction, most people just look at their after tax income and ignore the rest (and see their "refund" as a bonus which it isn't)

I think I'm mostly on the "simpler is better" where simpler should be "get the tax code to fit on 2 pages of 10pt single spaced letter sized paper. Something simple like "+0.25% for every 1k over 10k up to 50%" the end. I'd be curious to know which country has the simplest taxes

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#282

Post by bedobi »

bananskalhalk wrote: post #279
AshamedCaptain wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you just pick ballots for more than one party before going into the "secret" booth?

Yeah, and blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice. You could bring your own ballot if you so choose, or vote pretty much anywhere else than were you live during a ~ three week long period.

yeah... or you could just implement secret ballot like all sane countries have

> blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice

this can and does risk resulting in the vote not being counted (due to alleged illegibility, a tiny spelling error or whatever)

> You could bring your own ballot if you so choose

same thing, your own ballot could be considered illegitimate + even in the best case that you obtain a real lawful ballot, only a tiny fraction of people are willing and able to go through the trouble of doing so + again, by requesting a ballot, secrecy is out the window

> or vote pretty much anywhere else than were you live during a ~ three week long period

the suggestions just keep getting more and more ridiculous - no one should have to do any of this! everyone should be able to just rock up and vote with secrecy preserved, without having to prepare or use all these hacks

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#283

Post by AshamedCaptain »

bedobi wrote: post #282
bananskalhalk wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice. You could bring your own ballot if you so choose, or vote pretty much anywhere else than were you live during a ~ three week long period.

yeah... or you could just implement secret ballot like all sane countries have > blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice this can and does risk resulting in the vote not being counted (due to alleged illegibility, a tiny spelling error or whatever) > You could bring your own ballot if you so choose same thing, your own ballot could be considered illegitimate + even in the best case that you obta…

Which country has "secret ballot" then ? Cause what you described as imperfect is the system that is present in all countries I've ever been in, and I've been in the majority of western europe...

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#284

Post by bedobi »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #283
bedobi wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah... or you could just implement secret ballot like all sane countries have > blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice this can and does risk resulting in the vote not being counted (due to alleged illegibility, a tiny spelling error or whatever) > You could bring your own ballot if you so choose same thing, your own ballot could be considered illegitimate + even in the best case that you obta…

Which country has "secret ballot" then ? Cause what you described as imperfect is the system that is present in all countries I've ever been in, and I've been in the majority of western europe...

Almost all actual democracies have secret ballot? There’s any number of ways to ensure secrecy is preserved at all times by default. (unlike in Sweden, where virtually no votes are secret because it requires hacking the process)

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#285

Post by AshamedCaptain »

bedobi wrote: post #284
AshamedCaptain wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which country has "secret ballot" then ? Cause what you described as imperfect is the system that is present in all countries I've ever been in, and I've been in the majority of western europe...

Almost all actual democracies have secret ballot? There’s any number of ways to ensure secrecy is preserved at all times by default. (unlike in Sweden, where virtually no votes are secret because it requires hacking the process)

Can you point a country and how they ensure secret ballot?

France works exactly the way you have described Sweden so far.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#286

Post by bananskalhalk »

bedobi wrote: post #282
bananskalhalk wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, and blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice. You could bring your own ballot if you so choose, or vote pretty much anywhere else than were you live during a ~ three week long period.

yeah... or you could just implement secret ballot like all sane countries have > blank ones if you want to write down the party of your choice this can and does risk resulting in the vote not being counted (due to alleged illegibility, a tiny spelling error or whatever) > You could bring your own ballot if you so choose same thing, your own ballot could be considered illegitimate + even in the best case that you obta…

I am at loss here.

As per my prior comment directed at you, you have been reminded that the improvement you asked for had been implemented into law.

As per the same comment, the situation for new parties have thereby become worse. You are sure to have experienced the same problems we experienced when getting the Pirate party into parliament when you got the Sweden Democrats through the system.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#287

Post by bananskalhalk »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #285
bedobi wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost all actual democracies have secret ballot? There’s any number of ways to ensure secrecy is preserved at all times by default. (unlike in Sweden, where virtually no votes are secret because it requires hacking the process)

Can you point a country and how they ensure secret ballot? France works exactly the way you have described Sweden so far.

Sweden doesn't even work the way he describes any longer. The changes he claims he wants are already in place.

Re: Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax site

#288

Post by cscurmudgeon »

flandish wrote: post #126
tmountain wrote: post #8

It’s amazing that 54% of adults in the United States have a literacy below 6th grade level, but it is expected for the same population to have the financial literacy to file their taxes accurately. Going further, the IRS already knows the details of most people’s taxes before they file, yet everyone is expected to complete what amounts to a complex task for many people. I cannot fathom why it is still done this way.

> cannot fathom Yes you can. It’s capitalism. The owners of the current system lobby and advertise and “manufacture consent” in keeping the current system because it is wildly profitable. That’s really all there is to it.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN