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by muglug 2y ago
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- wrs 2y agoWhat's moral about it?
- brianwawok 2y agoThe possible moral argument, is the government is funding a service that costs businesses revenue. However it would be pretty insane to argue that a citizen of a country should need to pay money for someone to fill out a basic tax return to pay taxes…
- Freedom2 2y agoI've had someone on this site say to me that it's because America embraces the free market, as well as it being the only country to have granular enough taxes to require a third party to handle it. It's incredibly hard because you can point to any other country to show examples of good (not perfect) implementations but then American exceptionalism takes over and they simply dismiss any advice.
- ericrallen 2y agoIt sounds like that particular someone might have had a vested interest in maintaining the current (terrible) status quo around filing taxes in America. The rest of us hate it.
- muglug 2y agoThe one thing I've discovered as I’ve got older is that most people don’t have some insidious vested interest. Complex political issues sometimes just come down to "I want my side to look good and I want the other side to look bad". In a system that treats Silicon Valley billionaires very differently to someone selling lumber in rural Ohio, sometimes that naked tribalism is the only thing that truly unites people in political parties. Some people hate the IRS self-filing system because it works, and because the "other side" is taking credit for it.
- tomalbrc 2y agoThe other thing I dicovered as I‘ve gotten even older than you is that some people absolutely do have insidious vested interests.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Spooky23 2y agoIt’s just a demonstration that people are capable firmly believing any type of nonsense. Nobody who isn’t being fed a bunch of propaganda is concerned about the freedom to fill out forms.
- SketchySeaBeast 2y agoThe mistake is to assume our concept of morality is shared by the oligarchs.
- strathmeyer 2y agoMorals are a collection of ethics. Their ethics are that people who aren't billionaires are parasites, and that rape and overthrowing the country and murdering politics are acceptable, it's what everyone voted for. The guy in charge of the military has white nationalist tattoos and an unelected foreigner gave white power salutes behind the presidential seal, get used to it.
- taco_emoji 2y ago"Moral" can mean "of or relating to morality", not necessarily "exhibiting goodness".
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- yongjik 2y agoAmerican conservatives view governments as inherently evil: if the government can make it more convenient for people to pay tax, people might be willing to pay more tax (or at least object less to tax), allowing the government to spend more money, and since the government is inherently evil, it allows for more evil. On the other hand, creating an office whose sole objective is to destroy other functioning parts of the government and make it less useful to people? Totally moral. Don't ask me, I'm not a conservative.
- fzeroracer 2y agoYou're arguing in the right direction, but you have the wrong basis. American Conservatives don't believe the government is evil, they believe that not having control over the government is evil. The slash and burning of agencies and departments isn't just due to a deep seated hatred, it's a need for control. And in order to have control you need consolidation. American Conservatives have no problems with state governments vastly overreaching their authority or punishing cities. They have no issue with potentially taxing workers more to issue tax breaks for corporations. And they have no issue using the government to punish, stalk or harass dissidents.
- CapricornNoble 2y ago> American conservatives view governments as inherently evil: Governments don't have a particularly good track record, so why give them the benefit of the doubt? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide According to Rummel, democide surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death in the 20th century. A government that is as weak as possible at least possesses less organizational capacity for murdering you when things inevitably go off the rails.
- eldaisfish 2y agothis obsession with government tyranny in the US is bonkers. Why is your default assumption that government will "go off the rails"? Why is your starting point not the default for most reasonable people - that the government is literally people from that society trying to manage their own affairs and to help each other when possible?
- Sloowms 2y ago[flagged]
- Dig1t 2y ago[flagged]
- wilg 2y agoSounds like an anti-gay crusade to me!
- handoflixue 2y agoYeah, listing 4 LGBT causes and one DEI one makes it pretty clear what their priorities are.
- mlazos 2y agoLike sure I’m not familiar with the value of these programs, but you get that these programs are literal pennies compared to the government’s budget right? It’s not even worth talking about these. DOGE cuts aren’t going to add up to shit and you bet we’re going to hear “mission accomplished” in six months, meanwhile Russia and China and are going to grab global influence in the absence of USAID and we won’t experience the repercussions for years after these clowns have left office.
- ikiris 2y ago[flagged]
- Dig1t 2y agolol these are my tax dollars! I’m sorry, I have nothing against gay people, but I do not want my tax dollars going to sex change operations in Guatemala. We have people in CA affected by fires, people in Carolina who still need help rebuilding after flooding, people in Hawaii that need to rebuild after their own fires. Did you know that most of FEMAs budget was spent housing migrants who crossed the border illegally instead of helping Americans affected by hurricanes? The current situation is one where bureaucrats and NGOs enrich themselves off the back of taxpayers and the problems that actually need solving in our own country go completely unsolved. We voted to cut all of this garbage, if they can’t spend it wisely then just pay down the national debt, which is at crisis levels BTW, or give it back to the taxpayers.
- vkou 2y agoIt's not a moral crusade, it's just a kleptocracy that uses a moral crusade as a fig leaf.
- scarab92 2y agoTwo things: 1. To people saying that the government should have a direct way to file taxes. This is an outdated way of thinking. Most ordinary people shouldn't have to file taxes at all. Withholding is sufficient for income taxes and taxes on liquid investments. 2. 18F was an openly partisan organisation. They were likely disbanded not to kill the products they produced, but rather for their inability to remain politically neutral.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- drunkpotato 2y agoI, too, was born yesterday.
- scarab92 2y agoWhat do you mean? It’s normal in many countries to not have to file until your tax situation becomes more complicated. For most people, your employer handles your income tax on your behalf, your stock broker handles your capital gains tax etc. It’s an XY problem, and direct file is like the faster horse.
- xocnad 2y agoI think the reply was to point #2
- 9283409232 2y agoPlease tell me how 18F is openly partisan. Also explain how most of Trump's hires are NOT openly partisan?
- nerdponx 2y agoThere's nothing moral about it. The profitability of the tax prep industry depends on taxes being hard to file. Lack of official free e-file is regulatory capture. Any associated blather about making taxes cumbersome to keep people mistrustful of taxes is a fig leaf, as is this case with most "conservative" viewpoints.
- scarab92 2y agoWithout evidence that the Trump administration cares about protecting the tax prep industry, this is just a conspiracy theory. Heck, the Trump admin wants to get rid of income tax entirely, so they're hardly the natural allies of the tax prep industry.
- chowchowchow 2y agoThey are because they have an interest in keeping tax filing difficult and unapproachable, to keep public animus against taxes at its maximum. Coincidentally this is 100% in alignment with the tax prep industry whose entire existence is based on products which solve and handle the complicated tax situation.
- HeuristicsCG 2y agoAs he said, conspiracy theory
- olalonde 2y agoYou're wrong: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888326592096547245 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888326592096547245 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886092387098796499 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886092387098796499 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1858872775395426553 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1858872775395426553 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1873796626223161603 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1873796626223161603 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1861824194113343870 https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1861824194113343870
- nerdponx 2y ago
- gigatexal 2y agoAll this good work by 18f destroyed by this maniac.