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>One of their approaches to gain sympathy to their cause is to keep making taxes hard I'm not sure where you get this from. People on the right have been yelli

>One of their approaches to gain sympathy to their cause is to keep making taxes hard I'm not sure where you get this from. People on the right have been yelling about simplifying the tax code for a long time. Flat tax, "postcard-sized tax form," national sales tax, all kinds of ideas have been floated. Even eliminating the income tax altogether and going back to funding the government through tariffs, those the people who suggest that wear a lot of tri-corn hats or subscribe to "Reason" magazine. The fact of the matter is the tax code is the biggest trough from which politicians can reward donors, lobbyists, and other allies. A nice tax carve-out for left-handed buggy whip manufacturers is easy and cheap, and nobody reads all 1100 pages of some omnibus bill, so whoever slid it in can claim to be "for small business!" (the right), or "making the rich pay their fair share!" (the left). As for the general population, all of their taxes are taken out of their paycheck. Taxes aren't hard for them. They pay a few thousand in income and payroll taxes over the year, they get a thousand or so back in a refund, and they think everything is great. If there was a bill that eliminated all the tax code and replaced it with a brochure-sized alternative, there might be some on the right who would object, but EVERYBODY on the left would lose their minds. I can't think of a single progressive who has supported a simplification of the tax code.

deleted 5y ago
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alistairSH 5y ago
Straight from the horses mouth. Grover Nordquist and other anti-tax conservatives have been staunchly against allowing the IRS to do any sort of tax prep for the public for fear that will somehow lead to more taxes (ignoring the fact the IRS doesn’t create tax policy out of thin air). https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grover-norquist-taxes_b_3005698 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grover-norquist-taxes_b_30056...
- deltarholamda 5y ago
  You seem to recognize that "tax prep" and "tax code" are completely different things, so I don't understand how or why you are making this your argument. Simplifying the tax code is much more a right-wing thing, maybe even an entirely right-wing thing. Very odd argument.
  - alistairSH 5y ago
    Because I was responding to a question specifically about government-provided tax prep solutions... why do governments not make a habit of funding/creating really high quality tax software Nordquist can be both against improved tax prep software/procedures and for simplified tax laws. We know he's against the former; he's explicitly stated he doesn't want the US government producing tax prep software or doing any sort of additional legwork on the behalf of tax filers.
    - deltarholamda 5y ago
      Your comment was showing up as a reply to mine, so I assumed you were responding to me. I read Norquist's article as more along the lines of "don't let the IRS determine what is and is not taxable," not so much about having them produce tax prep software. I suppose you can squint and read that, fair enough, but that does not address the issue of whether Norquist supports or doesn't support simplifying the tax code.
jjeaff 5y ago
The only right wing proposals to "simplify" the tax code have been ridiculous proposals like the flat tax. You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. Look up Grover Nordquist. He has devoted his life to making sure paying taxes doesn't become too easy. And he ain't no lefty.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  >You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. And the proponents of a flat tax would say "so?" There's a fundamental ideological incompatibility here and unless one side stops caring or puts the other in the ground the bickering will continue.
- deltarholamda 5y ago
  >You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. I guess you have never read anything about the various flat-tax proposals. There have been several, and they have all accounted for those with lower income levels. One of the fundamental tenets of the flat tax is 14th Amendment "equal protection." Is it constitutionally acceptable to treat a rich person differently from a poor person? The flat-tax people say no. Progressives say yes. I do agree that a progressive tax system has merits with which I agree, but I also think it's perfectly reasonable to assert that falls afoul of equal protection, and therefore should either be rejected or an Amendment should be presented and passed to account for it. Progressives tend to turn this distinction into a moral argument about fairness, which is not how a government that is bound by law is supposed to work. If you want the government to work on a moral basis, don't be too surprised if a later government with different moral frameworks do things you don't care for. >Look up Grover Nordquist Somebody else brought him up in a comment. Taking your assertion at face value, you have one data point suggesting the right doesn't want to simplify the tax code. Good job, but I've got a competing data point of Paul Ryan, who was an actual Congressional leader in the Ways and Means Committee talking about the flat tax, and not an activist gadfly. I think my singular data point carries more weight than your data point.

deleted 5y ago

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alistairSH 5y ago

Straight from the horses mouth. Grover Nordquist and other anti-tax conservatives have been staunchly against allowing the IRS to do any sort of tax prep for the public for fear that will somehow lead to more taxes (ignoring the fact the IRS doesn’t create tax policy out of thin air). https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grover-norquist-taxes_b_3005698 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grover-norquist-taxes_b_30056...

deltarholamda 5y ago
You seem to recognize that "tax prep" and "tax code" are completely different things, so I don't understand how or why you are making this your argument. Simplifying the tax code is much more a right-wing thing, maybe even an entirely right-wing thing. Very odd argument.
- alistairSH 5y ago
  Because I was responding to a question specifically about government-provided tax prep solutions... why do governments not make a habit of funding/creating really high quality tax software Nordquist can be both against improved tax prep software/procedures and for simplified tax laws. We know he's against the former; he's explicitly stated he doesn't want the US government producing tax prep software or doing any sort of additional legwork on the behalf of tax filers.
  - deltarholamda 5y ago
    Your comment was showing up as a reply to mine, so I assumed you were responding to me. I read Norquist's article as more along the lines of "don't let the IRS determine what is and is not taxable," not so much about having them produce tax prep software. I suppose you can squint and read that, fair enough, but that does not address the issue of whether Norquist supports or doesn't support simplifying the tax code.

jjeaff 5y ago

The only right wing proposals to "simplify" the tax code have been ridiculous proposals like the flat tax. You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. Look up Grover Nordquist. He has devoted his life to making sure paying taxes doesn't become too easy. And he ain't no lefty.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. And the proponents of a flat tax would say "so?" There's a fundamental ideological incompatibility here and unless one side stops caring or puts the other in the ground the bickering will continue.
deltarholamda 5y ago
>You know, the one where a single mom with children to feed pays the same percentage of her income as the single billionaire that wants to buy a 3rd yacht. I guess you have never read anything about the various flat-tax proposals. There have been several, and they have all accounted for those with lower income levels. One of the fundamental tenets of the flat tax is 14th Amendment "equal protection." Is it constitutionally acceptable to treat a rich person differently from a poor person? The flat-tax people say no. Progressives say yes. I do agree that a progressive tax system has merits with which I agree, but I also think it's perfectly reasonable to assert that falls afoul of equal protection, and therefore should either be rejected or an Amendment should be presented and passed to account for it. Progressives tend to turn this distinction into a moral argument about fairness, which is not how a government that is bound by law is supposed to work. If you want the government to work on a moral basis, don't be too surprised if a later government with different moral frameworks do things you don't care for. >Look up Grover Nordquist Somebody else brought him up in a comment. Taking your assertion at face value, you have one data point suggesting the right doesn't want to simplify the tax code. Good job, but I've got a competing data point of Paul Ryan, who was an actual Congressional leader in the Ways and Means Committee talking about the flat tax, and not an activist gadfly. I think my singular data point carries more weight than your data point.