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GSA Eliminates 18F

nextgov.com

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Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#71

Post by timewizard »

purple_ferret wrote: post #46
phillipcarter wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? I think the more common right-wing argument is that you shouldn't have taxes / the IRS is just evil / the whole government apparatus needs to be burned to the ground. (I do not agree with it, it's just what I interpret the arguments to be)

Here's the tweet that prompted Elon's 'deleted' tweet: >18F, the far left government wide computer office that was recently taken over by allies of @elonmusk, is also the same agency that built Elizabeth Warren's "Direct File" tax program. >Direct File puts the government in charge of preparing peoples tax returns for them. https://nitter.poast.org/alx/status/1886415751528972515 ? Clearly, they think there is somethi…

First of all, it's the US Governments, and thus the citizens, Direct File tax program. Unless Elizabeth Warren personally wrote the code I don't think her brand deserves to be on it.

Second, are we pretending it was a good system?

"Direct File is now open and available in 25 participating states." Wow. Half the country! That's _almost_ useful.

"You can't use Direct File if you had other types of income, such as gig economy, rental or business income." Again another baffling miss. Perhaps Senator Warren is willing to explain this personally?

"You can't use Direct File if you itemize deductions." What is even the point? Who would have wasted their time creating this boondoggle?

This is all lipservice. People who want to claim credit for a half working implementation. It's 2025. This is utterly embarrassing to the nation and I can't rightly determine what goes through the minds of Senators. They are so detached from the common American experience.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#72

Post by aprilthird2021 »

If what I'm reading is correct and this was a cost-recoverable function, then it's possible this work will be contracted out to private companies in the future.

Already Trump has said the government will sell federal buildings and rent them instead.

If this continues, it will be very similar to how the kleptocrats took over Russia when the Soviet Union fell...

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#73

Post by chrisfosterelli »

miltonlost wrote: post #51
Ancapistani wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You support DOGE's mission, but not a fan of this decision? Destroying 18F entirely consistent with DOGE's mission and Trump's goals. Why this decision then and not all their other ones? You wrote a lot of words saying very little.

I'm just an outsider here but it seems very obvious to me that someone could both 1) support the (stated) mission of saving taxpayers' money and reducing the US national debt, and 2) disagree with a specific cut

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#74

Post by mixmastamyk »

Anyone interested in helping organize a boycott of filing federal taxes until a direct-file system, that serves everyone, is instituted? I’d like to join, but don’t have the influence to start one on my own.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#77

Post by KerrAvon »

nsxwolf wrote: post #50
multjoy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What’s the appropriate number of employees for the federal government?

This is a non-sequitur. The raw numbers are irrelevant. What are those employees doing?

In abstract, I support a smaller government. In practice, Chesterton’s Fence is an important principle to remember.

For example, the TSA is largely security theater. It would be a real win and legitimate cost savings (unemployment numbers aside) to dismantle the TSA and go back to metal detectors and simpler X-ray machines run by private companies in airports.

On the other hand, getting rid of USAID diminishes America’s stature in the world. Where do you think our power comes from? It’s not solely due to our nuclear arsenal.

These people are destroying the US government’s capabilities and influence for bizarre ideological reasons that are largely grounded in equally bizarre fictional views of the world. It’s going to be _more_ costly, devastatingly so, to US citizens both financially and otherwise in the short and long term.

They could have reduced the size of the government strategically and they could even have done it using this same illegal DOGE technique, but it would have required care and thought, grounded in actual reality.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#78

Post by zzgo »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #59
moomin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Hell any country except the USA. I've lived in both the USA and Australia. In Australia it's been digital for a long time. As in you go to file and the equivalent of all your W2 information is pre-filed by the employer, retirement and investment systems. You're just running through a government provided site to check off any special exemptions and you're done. It's a huge efficiency win. Think of the hours you spent…

> very rich people that want to siphon off profit

Tax preparation is a huge industry in the US, they're going to fight tooth and nail to make sure the government doesn't cut into their business.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#79

Post by kadoban »

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?

The right in America does not believe in a federal government. Anything that helps a federal government exist is to be destroyed.

Re: GSA Eliminates 18F

#80

Post by dougb5 »

Ancapistani wrote: post #45
fancyfredbot wrote: post #24

TIL that in America, if you work on a free tax filing system you are considered by some to be part of the "far left".

[flagged]

> They are also some of the most vocal extreme left-wing activists I've known well.

Can you give a few examples of the vocal extreme left-wing activism?

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