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GSA Eliminates 18F

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#461

Post by Spooky23 »

extra88 wrote: post #394
Spooky23 wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bro, it isn't 1975, it's 2025. The president has immunity like some South American dictator. His agents will be pardoned as long as they stay in favor. The civil servant should collect his pay as long as possible and do as little as possible.

The president can't be criminally tried for "official acts" and this Court likely would use a very broad definition of those. But no one following his orders has any immunity. They should keep that in mind.

> no one following his orders has any immunity

As long as they commit their crimes in DC, they enjoy the ability to be fully pardoned. Outside of DC, you have to have a prosecutor with cohones.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#462

Post by gunian »

tenuousemphasis wrote: post #424
gunian wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

at some point the oil will run out it is a finite resource let them go crazy in the last 75 years EVs and all that stuff were nothing more than a toy to play the charged up games the barons / slavers play

The Limits to Growth predicted (in 1972) a collapse of industrialization caused by exponential growth well before 2100. Since then we've only accelerated our rate of growth. I think we have far less than 75 years left before things go very badly.

the barons will commit global genocide before they let their toy humans die it'll be fine

oil > nuclear > some miraculous thing

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#463

Post by moomin »

ahmedfromtunis wrote: post #85
moomin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heaven forbid if the US catches up with the U.K. in the 1990s.

I read somewhere that the convolution of tax returns system is intentional as the right thinks that the federal government should collect as little tax as possible. Making people suffer to file their taxes aims to reduce the federals from levying more taxes without popular opposition. Providing a free, digital service to collect taxes would then be considered a real threat.

Pretty sure it was patio11. :D

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#464

Post by Sabinus »

marsovo wrote: post #357
Sabinus wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I don't think ranked choice voting particularly helps preventing corrupt politicians. It mostly diminishes the incentive to be an extremist.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#465

Post by twoodfin »

jedberg wrote: post #454
twoodfin wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

“A simple form to ask you for those things” is what we have today. Or is the IRS failing to simplify these forms to the utmost degree?

I think you’re seriously underestimating the amount of data the IRS would have to proactively collect. “We get your tax obligation right 80% of the time!” isn’t an acceptable SLA. Kids are born, houses (and electric cars!) are bought and sold, community college classes are enrolled in, …

Re: Primary residence: Uhh, OK, so I report to my state tax authority who reports to the Feds. I thought the point of this thread was that somebody else would do all this for me, but for the evils of Grover Norquist and Intuit?

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#466

Post by jedberg »

twoodfin wrote: post #465
jedberg wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a…

“A simple form to ask you for those things” is what we have today. Or is the IRS failing to simplify these forms to the utmost degree? I think you’re seriously underestimating the amount of data the IRS would have to proactively collect. “We get your tax obligation right 80% of the time!” isn’t an acceptable SLA. Kids are born, houses (and electric cars!) are bought and sold, community college classes are enrolled in…

That is not what we have today. For starters, that form starts with "tell us what is on your W2". They already know that. They don't need it.

There is a reason TurboTax is popular -- because it's a better interface for asking those questions.

But look at other countries. They don't ask you to fill out a form. They send you a bill and ask if they missed anything. For 80% of taxpayers, they would send the bill and the taxpayer would say, "yep, that's right". And your taxes would be done.

The rest could keep doing it the old way.

> Kids are born, houses (and electric cars!) are bought and sold, community college classes are enrolled in

All things they already know about! Because when you claim those things on your taxes, they cross check that to try and catch you in a lie.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#467

Post by sangnoir »

vvpan wrote: post #442
khazhoux wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden was too old. And the problem with his age was not the number , it was that he was visibly very, very old. 10 years ago, Biden was fit, spry, and sharp. He rode his bicycle with ease, and was quick-witted with journalists. In the last year+, Biden became frail and tottering, and his words slurred at times almost to incomprehension (I once rewound a clip 10 times to figure out what he said, and never untangled th…

It did not matter how old or sick each one is it mattered how each one is perceived. After the first debate a lot of Democratic voters felt like Biden was doing very poor and he was, numbers show it. But really Democrats keep providing one unpopular boomer candidate after another, so when it is NYT or anybody upset - I am not surprised. EDIT: actually I meant to reply to the person you are replying to, heh.

> Biden was doing very poor and he was, numbers show it.

The polls in the immediate aftermath of the debate showed Biden's approval/disapproval rate was unchanged. It did change after weeks of negative front-page stories and speculation that gave the impression the man was a vegetable.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#468

Post by ants_everywhere »

hayst4ck wrote: post #395
ants_everywhere wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't he be Lenin, the guy who turned the country into a cynical police state? Rather than Gorbachev, the guy who won a Nobel Peace Prize and started to end totalitarianism in Russia and the Soviet empire?

Snyder has a great talk at a conference where he talks about how the liberalization of Russia was a move towards the west, but they did it without a fundamental ingredient -- Rule of Law ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law ). So Russia was effectively cargo culting the idea of capitalism and democracy. They did things that looked right, but because they didn't understand a core principle, Rule of Law, they di…

I'm not sure why you got downvoted. But I'm not very familiar with Snyder's work so maybe I'm missing something controversial here.

But as you describe it that's fairly plausible to me. Russia under communism had no rule of law and was basically a mafia state. So it's not surprising that remnants of those institutions, the paranoia, the corruption, opportunism, etc carried over through the transition.

My point wasn't that Gorbachev was some sort of miracle worker, just that he helped end totalitarianism and is recognized for his efforts. And Trump will definitely not be remembered as that kind of figure. Putin is trying to bring back the state religion, and Trump is trying to do something similar in the US so if we're going to compare him to someone in Russia historically, it will be someone who tried to tear things down and impose a dictatorship for the supposed "betterment" of the people.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#469

Post by twoodfin »

jedberg wrote: post #466
twoodfin wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A simple form to ask you for those things” is what we have today. Or is the IRS failing to simplify these forms to the utmost degree? I think you’re seriously underestimating the amount of data the IRS would have to proactively collect. “We get your tax obligation right 80% of the time!” isn’t an acceptable SLA. Kids are born, houses (and electric cars!) are bought and sold, community college classes are enrolled in…

That is not what we have today. For starters, that form starts with "tell us what is on your W2". They already know that. They don't need it. There is a reason TurboTax is popular -- because it's a better interface for asking those questions. But look at other countries. They don't ask you to fill out a form. They send you a bill and ask if they missed anything. For 80% of taxpayers, they would send the bill and the…

The IRS is not keeping a database of real estate transactions and birth records. Let alone modest charitable contributions or fluid household composition.

When the IRS audits you, they don’t come with their own evidence beyond the basic income reporting that yes, they could pre-fill into forms. It’s up to you to produce documentation that justifies your filing.

Our tax code is complicated. It relies on voluntary (but potentially audited) reporting and compliance. If you want to argue for a simpler tax code, great, but at the end of the day, either the IRS needs to collect a lot more data or we’re stuck with self-reporting.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#470

Post by locopati »

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…

Russell Vought, sociopath
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