4 ms·

Blame congress for the IRS - certain political elements would like to eliminate the IRS - they have this idea, that if we starve it, people will hate it so much

by Aloha 8y ago

Blame congress for the IRS - certain political elements would like to eliminate the IRS - they have this idea, that if we starve it, people will hate it so much we can make it go away. Nevermind the fact that the IRS wont go away till there isnt an income tax anymore.

craftyguy 8y ago
> they have this idea, that if we starve it, people will hate it so much we can make it go away. Not just congress uses this tactic. See: CFPB.
siruncledrew 8y ago
Taxes could also be a lot easier if Congress didn’t buy into lobbying from Intuit and other tax preparers to keep taxes complicated so individuals had to figure out their own taxes and spend inordinate amounts of time and effort determining out how to properly fill out every form.
- jonny_eh 8y ago
  That's a totally different issue from Congress failing to properly fund the IRS, a profit centre! It's one of the frew areas of government that spending money on makes money.
  - mschuster91 8y ago
    > It's one of the frew areas of government that spending money on makes money. In a well run government, everything the government does should result in a benefit to the civilization and by it, the government. For example, adequately maintaining roads or other public infrastructure will save money on expensive urgent restauration works (e.g. when a water main explodes or a bridge collapses), as well as promote company growth (e.g. by building real, fast internet connectivity via local government owned utilities, thus enabling modern companies to work) which causes tax income to rise. Even stuff that does not seem to be profitable at all in the long run makes profits. Take environment protection as an example: preventing or cleaning up pollution saves cost in the medical system (and even if it's a mess like in the US where most of it is privatized, the "win" is more worker productivity because they're not ill as much as before and can work more - or criminality decreases like w/ lead exposure), and trying to prevent climate change due to rising temperature will prove worth the money when the government saves money that would be spent on relocating people on the coasts.
    - washadjeffmad 8y ago
      Someone else put it perfectly when they said when cities decide each year whether to pay into pensions or fix failing infrastructure, they go with the option that won't sue them. Ever wonder why we have the grant system we do?
      - mschuster91 8y ago
        > they go with the option that won't sue them. Well, if your infrastructure explodes like that bridge in Italy, then the survivors will sue... it's gambling, just with lives at stake. Governments (worldwide) should be forced to a different accounting model - where maintenance for everything they build (infrastructure) or buy (IT software!) over the lifetime has to be budgeted for. No more expensive nutjobs like Olympic Games which will be unmaintainable after the single use...
firic 8y ago
Good customer support doesn't cost much more than bad customer support. They are people earning close to minimum wage who provide good customer support. The problem is that the IRS doesn't care to provide good customer support because they have no need to.
- Certhas 8y ago
  Test your hypothesis. By that argument tax collection agencies in all comparable states should behave similarly. Just below the article someone comments that the Australian tax office has excellent support. Several European ones I have been in touch with have been very helpful as well (UK, Germany). One thing that does differentiate the US from those places is the existence of a strong political force hostile to the idea of federal government ("drown it in the bath tub"). So the hypothesis that this is a home made political problem rather than an inevitable structural outcome of incentives fits the data better.
  - firic 8y ago
    Don't just look at first world countries. Even though the USSR had high taxes I doubt that their tax authority had good customer service.
    - joering2 8y ago
      They actually did. Some family members lived there thru previous system and praised it many times. The current regime is a joke but the previous one (even more horrible) cared only about collecting taxes. New system dont care up to the point you go to jail, no big deal to “it”; in USSR the whole concept was of a working unit. Unity in strength of every individual working. You cant work when you behind bars. They once had supervisor fired on spot because indeed he was explaining tax related problem wrong.
  - TomMarius 8y ago
    I can tell you from personal experience that many EU states have absolutely terrible tax agencies, even worse than what was described - namely Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Hungary. Everyone here "knows" it's because they have absolutely zero motivation to provide good services.

by Aloha 8y ago

craftyguy 8y ago

> they have this idea, that if we starve it, people will hate it so much we can make it go away. Not just congress uses this tactic. See: CFPB.

siruncledrew 8y ago

Taxes could also be a lot easier if Congress didn’t buy into lobbying from Intuit and other tax preparers to keep taxes complicated so individuals had to figure out their own taxes and spend inordinate amounts of time and effort determining out how to properly fill out every form.

jonny_eh 8y ago
That's a totally different issue from Congress failing to properly fund the IRS, a profit centre! It's one of the frew areas of government that spending money on makes money.
- mschuster91 8y ago
  > It's one of the frew areas of government that spending money on makes money. In a well run government, everything the government does should result in a benefit to the civilization and by it, the government. For example, adequately maintaining roads or other public infrastructure will save money on expensive urgent restauration works (e.g. when a water main explodes or a bridge collapses), as well as promote company growth (e.g. by building real, fast internet connectivity via local government owned utilities, thus enabling modern companies to work) which causes tax income to rise. Even stuff that does not seem to be profitable at all in the long run makes profits. Take environment protection as an example: preventing or cleaning up pollution saves cost in the medical system (and even if it's a mess like in the US where most of it is privatized, the "win" is more worker productivity because they're not ill as much as before and can work more - or criminality decreases like w/ lead exposure), and trying to prevent climate change due to rising temperature will prove worth the money when the government saves money that would be spent on relocating people on the coasts.
  - washadjeffmad 8y ago
    Someone else put it perfectly when they said when cities decide each year whether to pay into pensions or fix failing infrastructure, they go with the option that won't sue them. Ever wonder why we have the grant system we do?
    - mschuster91 8y ago
      > they go with the option that won't sue them. Well, if your infrastructure explodes like that bridge in Italy, then the survivors will sue... it's gambling, just with lives at stake. Governments (worldwide) should be forced to a different accounting model - where maintenance for everything they build (infrastructure) or buy (IT software!) over the lifetime has to be budgeted for. No more expensive nutjobs like Olympic Games which will be unmaintainable after the single use...

firic 8y ago

Good customer support doesn't cost much more than bad customer support. They are people earning close to minimum wage who provide good customer support. The problem is that the IRS doesn't care to provide good customer support because they have no need to.

Certhas 8y ago
Test your hypothesis. By that argument tax collection agencies in all comparable states should behave similarly. Just below the article someone comments that the Australian tax office has excellent support. Several European ones I have been in touch with have been very helpful as well (UK, Germany). One thing that does differentiate the US from those places is the existence of a strong political force hostile to the idea of federal government ("drown it in the bath tub"). So the hypothesis that this is a home made political problem rather than an inevitable structural outcome of incentives fits the data better.
- firic 8y ago
  Don't just look at first world countries. Even though the USSR had high taxes I doubt that their tax authority had good customer service.
  - joering2 8y ago
    They actually did. Some family members lived there thru previous system and praised it many times. The current regime is a joke but the previous one (even more horrible) cared only about collecting taxes. New system dont care up to the point you go to jail, no big deal to “it”; in USSR the whole concept was of a working unit. Unity in strength of every individual working. You cant work when you behind bars. They once had supervisor fired on spot because indeed he was explaining tax related problem wrong.
- TomMarius 8y ago
  I can tell you from personal experience that many EU states have absolutely terrible tax agencies, even worse than what was described - namely Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Hungary. Everyone here "knows" it's because they have absolutely zero motivation to provide good services.