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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#351

Post by nkrisc »

jedberg wrote: post #130
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.

You’re saying I can pay the IRS to figure out my taxes for me?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#352

Post by jordanpg »

foobar876345 wrote: post #304

This is a good program that should be retained. But theres a nagging thing bothering me about the whole dynamic going on with DOGE critics. You get mad at the waste this represents, the unfairness. Ask your average middle class worker how they feel about the taxes taken out of their paycheck being wasted in the massive amount of waste fraud and abuse we all know happens in government. That is massively unfair. It one…

What fraction of those tax dollars do you imagine is going to waste and fraud? Cite your source.

And this isn’t an interesting thought experiment. It’s the whole ballgame. This is the focus of right wing propaganda.

And also consider whether you will change your mind if the actual fraction is <<<1%.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#353

Post by pclmulqdq »

hayst4ck wrote: post #238

Everyone should watch the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, speak on government workers: We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because the…

Yes, I firmly believe that Trump was elected to punish the current political class in the US for failing to serve the interests of his voter base (largely working class men). The whole election and his sad little mandate is about tearing down the permanent bureaucracy in the executive branch, not about fixing anything or really even changing any systems.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#354

Post by rights_reminder »

Sabinus wrote: post #316
rights_reminder wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Most developed countries on earth have an income tax. Do you think they're all part of the same elite deception scam?

The point of my comment was that, in the US, the government has to create an elaborate body of law to trick people into thinking the law says something which it does not say. If we did not have limitations on the taxing power of congress, they could just write a simple law that says "There is hereby imposed on all labor of every person working in the 50 states a tax equal to..."

The fact that there is no such sentence in US tax law should be a wake-up call... The reason the income tax parts of the IRC are so complex is to keep them in perfect accordance with the constitutional limits on taxation while deceiving you. Taxes on income are in their nature excises, which are taxes on privileges. Foreign persons do not have the same rights that we Americans do (I don't necessarily agree with this, it is just how the law works).

Eventually this will come to an end. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people have known about what I am saying for a hundred years. Eventually a critical mass of people will be wise to the scam and HR departments will no longer subordinate perjury by pressuring clueless people to improperly sign a Form W-4, declaring themselves to be a foreign person subject to wage withholding (see Treasury Decision 8734)[0].

[0] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb97-44.pdf

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#355

Post by jmathai »

encomiast wrote: post #281
hayst4ck wrote: post #238

Everyone should watch the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, speak on government workers: We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because the…

They don't actually know who the bureaucrats are that they want to traumatize. Anyone calling a product manager, UX designer, or software developer at 18F a "bureaucrat" simply has no idea what they actually do. They are just demonizing the scapegoat du jour. Also among these so call "bureaucrats" are psychologists at the VA helping veterans with PTSD; search and rescue professionals working for forest service, park…

Many of Gary's videos on the economy shed light on what's happening in the US right now. A lot of sleight of hand to convince the general population that the villains are immigrants, government employees, anyone on welfare, etc. I found this one to be most poignant on the topic.

https://youtu.be/wPoXOwiEfrQ?si=K58Pa-JQhdIvQzrw

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#356

Post by losvedir »

rad_gruchalski wrote: post #235
vvpan wrote: post #162

New York Times wrote [1] a pretty extensive expose on how the government takeover has happened. Basically Musk started infiltrating the government with his agents a couple of years ago so by the time inauguration happened he had access to all the passwords. I am not sure which laws were broken but if they were I hope the administration that comes in 2029 will not overlook these people's contribution. [1] https://arch…

[flagged]

I question your info hygiene if it's led you to a position where you think it's likely there won't be elections in three years. Obviously there will be elections, and either you know there will be as well and are being needlessly inflammatory or have a wildly uncalibrated view of the world.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#357

Post by marsovo »

Sabinus wrote: post #320
BrenBarn wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that numbers like 49.8% are meaningless because the current system simply does not result in government that is representative of people's interests. There are large numbers of people who don't vote because they feel their vote doesn't matter, and they're right.

An amazing reform that could be achieved is changing to ranked choice voting from the current first-past-the-post. It'll reduce the incentive for politicians to be radical to stand out, and reassures voters that they won't 'waste their vote' if they put an alternative candidate first.

I once thought this was the solution too, then NYC's ranked-choice mayoral race gave it Eric Adams. Now I don't know. Maybe open primaries?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#358

Post by hypothesis »

losvedir wrote: post #356
rad_gruchalski wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I question your info hygiene if it's led you to a position where you think it's likely there won't be elections in three years. Obviously there will be elections, and either you know there will be as well and are being needlessly inflammatory or have a wildly uncalibrated view of the world.

You technically have a point, even Russia has elections. But that doesn’t matter because they are just for show.

In US you generally gerrymander to the max or throw all sorts of road blocks to discourage voter participation, but we might also see more physical harassment going forward, both for voters and poll workers.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#360

Post by rights_reminder »

beej71 wrote: post #339
rights_reminder wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I do my taxes myself almost every time. And they're more complicated than average. I'm all for simplification, but it's already pretty simple to understand for almost all Americans. The only part that sucks for all Americans is actually filing, especially when you have to pay some asshole intermediary just to make it slightly faster. In our state, they streamlined filing. I still have to understand the same things, b…

99% of Americans are not supposed to be filing a tax return. Unless you paid US source income to it's foreign owner, you should not be either. What gave you the idea that you needed to?
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