GSA Eliminates 18F • Hacker News Board

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#451

Post by sunshowers » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 6:54 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #434

sunshowers wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be thinking of unitary executive theory, which is harebrained right-wing fringe nonsense. Public servants in the US swear an oath to the constitution, not to the president, and have an obligation to disobey clearly unconstitutional orders no matter the personal cost (that's what swearing an oath means).

The January 2017 “Resistance” wasn’t about “clearly unconstitutional orders.” It was about opposing Trump’s lawful policies on immigration and the environment. Everyone agrees civil servants can disobey “clearly unconstitutional orders.” But civil servants must work equally hard to execute the policies of the president regardless of party, right? Biden’s student loan forgiveness was based on thin but colorable legal…

Incorrect. Civil servants must follow the law, and professional obligations must be balanced with ethical and legal boundaries.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#452

Post by rad_gruchalski » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 6:58 PM UTC

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.

Nobody knows what is going to happen in four years. That includes you.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#453

Post by monetus » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 7:33 PM UTC

gigatexal wrote: post #141

[flagged]

Two Republican speakers of the house, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy agreed he probably was back in 2016 or so. He and Dana Rorhrabacher.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#454

Post by jedberg » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 7:40 PM UTC

twoodfin wrote: post #446

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.

There’s no way the IRS can track and calculate many large, important features of the tax code. EITC eligibility, for example, depends on the aggregate employment and spending patterns of your household. The IRS does not (and shouldn’t) track when you moved in with your boyfriend. The home mortgage interest deduction depends on your primary residence; if you have more than one, that means tracking how much time you sp…

This is true. They would have to send you a simple form to ask you for those things. Or change the way those things are reported. But fun fact, ~80% of tax returns could be calculated by the IRS with no input from the taxpayer, based on the actual returns that they get now. In other words, 80% of returns don't have any information they don't already know. That's mainly because most taxpayers have a single W2 income and just take the standard deduction.

Although you're wrong about the mortgage interest deduction, that is reported by the bank per address, and you have the list your primary address with your state tax authority, which the IRS gets a copy of.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#455

Post by AnthonyMouse » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 7:50 PM UTC

BrenBarn wrote: post #425

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But the fact that they run on them without solving them shows that it's possible to run on a vaporware platform and never do what you said you would. So they would just find some new nonsense to run on. People care about the things that are causing trouble for them. You can promise to fix their problem and then not fix it, but if there's nothing they need from you then there's nothing to promise them. > Also to a n…

> People care about the things that are causing trouble for them. You can promise to fix their problem and then not fix it, but if there's nothing they need from you then there's nothing to promise them. But that sounds like you're saying the solution is to just fix all problems. That's never going to happen. There will always be problems of some sort, which means there can always be someone claiming to have solution…

There are problems and there are problems.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#456

Post by jedberg » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 7:52 PM UTC

thelastgallon wrote: post #206

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.

Then the right thing to do would be to remove tax deduction at source from payroll. People will notice how much they are paying in taxes when they have to write a check every month to the government and start asking questions. For most people, taxes are more than the next 3 biggest expenses.

Most people would just set up auto pay and then it would be functionally the same. Out of sight out of mind. I'm pretty sure separating it wouldn't do anything except cause a lot of enforcement issues when people failed to pay.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#457

Post by jedberg » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #351

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.

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

Technically yes, but you'll pay them a lot more than you'd pay H&R Block or any of the other tax prep people.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#458

Post by sizzle » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 8:12 PM UTC

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?

Blame the lobbying efforts of Intuit

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#459

Post by Spooky23 » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 8:22 PM UTC

khazhoux wrote: post #378

Spooky23 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> You're a zealot or incapable of cognitively understanding what the words mean. Straight to ad hominem. Excellent.

If you are an advocate for the destruction of my country through your willful ignorance, you’re the problem.

You don’t get to hide behind high minded ideals.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#460

Post by rights_reminder » Sun, Mar 02, 2025, 8:25 PM UTC

monetus wrote: post #450

verall wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting. Do you just not pay your income taxes?

To be clear for others, the sibling comment is incorrect and I think is an idea coming from the sovereign citizen movement. You have to pay income tax generally.

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