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We should demand governments to maintain and provide an API for their tax codes. Let them have skin in the game. If the taxes are incorrect, businesses can poin

We should demand governments to maintain and provide an API for their tax codes. Let them have skin in the game. If the taxes are incorrect, businesses can point out that it’s the government API’s fault. Completely developed in the open, and with full test coverage. This should be required to collect taxes. No API? No taxes. API down? Tax waived.

tornato7 4y ago
This actually sounds like a good use for smart contracts if we switch to a CBDC. Basically you pass your transaction through whatever state’s contract and it will automatically do the tax withholding for you.
nemothekid 4y ago
Why would you do that when you could just lobby the government to make the tax code even more complex, then sell a service to handle that complexity for you under the threat of jail time if you get it wrong?
- systemvoltage 4y ago
  You're being facetious but I don't think this is a radical idea. Government already publishes the tax code in English language. This is just formalization of the tax code in computer code: More precise, testable and provable.
  - btilly 4y ago
    What makes you think that this is being facetious? https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... has a good overview of how companies that provide software for calculating taxes guarantee a market for their products by keeping the process of calculating taxes more complicated than it needs to be.
    - systemvoltage 4y ago
      Damn. I'm with you, this needs to be corrected.
    - stackbutterflow 4y ago
      In Bangalore, India, workers put on Smith face masks as they posed for selfies with the man himself. Fittingly, the tour culminated in San Diego, the home of TurboTax, the software that transformed the company’s fortunes. There, Smith arrived at his party in a DeLorean, and as he walked a red carpet, cheering employees waved “Brad is Rad” signs. To Smith’s delight, his favorite rock star, Gene Simmons of Kiss, emerged. I have no words to describe what I just read. That's straight out of the TV show Silicon Valley.
      - vonunov 4y ago
        Is it possible to do all of that without being so embarrassed at yourself that you die, or do you have to work up to it?
loloquwowndueo 4y ago
“We” the engineers (working for the government) still have to develop those APIs and the backends that power them. The only way to reduce the pain instead of just shifting it around would be to massively simplify the source of truth - tax codes and laws.
- bfdm 4y ago
  Yes, I think that's the point.
  - mangoTangoBango 4y ago
    That is the point of the tax code, to be able to use it for political wielding of power e.g. the Chicken tax because LBJ was pissed at Europe that caused a 25% tariff on light trucks imported to the U.S. based on a retaliation for European tariffs on American chicken..
- throwaway6532 4y ago
  The US tax system is the legislative equivalent of spaghetti code / big ball of mud.
  - loloquwowndueo 4y ago
    Nah it’s not a US thing; tax codes are the same most everywhere.
    - danielheath 4y ago
      I have never seen one quite as byzantine as the USA.
      - gabrielhidasy 4y ago
        Come to Brazil, we have taxes on products 'circulating', moving your products between logistic centers is OK, but if the product is lost or stolen, taxes are due (as if it was a sale). Some tax regulations were considered illegal by higher authorities, but that won't stop a tax auditor in a local level charging them and potentially closing down your business.
bernardlunn 4y ago
Good luck with getting popular support for that one!
quickthrower2 4y ago
Tax codes are hard. “Get the government to build an API” now you have two problems…. Source used (non-US) government api to do with legislation. The freaking ambiguity and cludges. Luckily they had a team of good people to help.

tornato7 4y ago

This actually sounds like a good use for smart contracts if we switch to a CBDC. Basically you pass your transaction through whatever state’s contract and it will automatically do the tax withholding for you.

nemothekid 4y ago

Why would you do that when you could just lobby the government to make the tax code even more complex, then sell a service to handle that complexity for you under the threat of jail time if you get it wrong?

systemvoltage 4y ago
You're being facetious but I don't think this is a radical idea. Government already publishes the tax code in English language. This is just formalization of the tax code in computer code: More precise, testable and provable.
- btilly 4y ago
  What makes you think that this is being facetious? https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... has a good overview of how companies that provide software for calculating taxes guarantee a market for their products by keeping the process of calculating taxes more complicated than it needs to be.
  - systemvoltage 4y ago
    Damn. I'm with you, this needs to be corrected.
  - stackbutterflow 4y ago
    In Bangalore, India, workers put on Smith face masks as they posed for selfies with the man himself. Fittingly, the tour culminated in San Diego, the home of TurboTax, the software that transformed the company’s fortunes. There, Smith arrived at his party in a DeLorean, and as he walked a red carpet, cheering employees waved “Brad is Rad” signs. To Smith’s delight, his favorite rock star, Gene Simmons of Kiss, emerged. I have no words to describe what I just read. That's straight out of the TV show Silicon Valley.
    - vonunov 4y ago
      Is it possible to do all of that without being so embarrassed at yourself that you die, or do you have to work up to it?

loloquwowndueo 4y ago

“We” the engineers (working for the government) still have to develop those APIs and the backends that power them. The only way to reduce the pain instead of just shifting it around would be to massively simplify the source of truth - tax codes and laws.

bfdm 4y ago
Yes, I think that's the point.
- mangoTangoBango 4y ago
  That is the point of the tax code, to be able to use it for political wielding of power e.g. the Chicken tax because LBJ was pissed at Europe that caused a 25% tariff on light trucks imported to the U.S. based on a retaliation for European tariffs on American chicken..
throwaway6532 4y ago
The US tax system is the legislative equivalent of spaghetti code / big ball of mud.
- loloquwowndueo 4y ago
  Nah it’s not a US thing; tax codes are the same most everywhere.
  - danielheath 4y ago
    I have never seen one quite as byzantine as the USA.
    - gabrielhidasy 4y ago
      Come to Brazil, we have taxes on products 'circulating', moving your products between logistic centers is OK, but if the product is lost or stolen, taxes are due (as if it was a sale). Some tax regulations were considered illegal by higher authorities, but that won't stop a tax auditor in a local level charging them and potentially closing down your business.

bernardlunn 4y ago

Good luck with getting popular support for that one!

quickthrower2 4y ago

Tax codes are hard. “Get the government to build an API” now you have two problems…. Source used (non-US) government api to do with legislation. The freaking ambiguity and cludges. Luckily they had a team of good people to help.