6 ms·

Sadly this program is being killed by the current admin. This repo looks great. The scala fact graph is super neat and there is clearly a lot of care that went

Sadly this program is being killed by the current admin. This repo looks great. The scala fact graph is super neat and there is clearly a lot of care that went into making the tutorial for it.

ryandrake 1y ago
I'm sure everyone working on this knew it was doomed before the first line of code was written, and that it would be killed as soon as the next (R) was in charge. It was a great accomplishment to get working software released before that happened, but I'm sure nobody was kidding themselves into thinking it would last. The pay-to-file tax lobby is too strong and corrupt.
- afavour 1y ago
  I don't know about that. Inertia is a strong force but it goes in both directions. Had this administration been a Democratic one four years might be long enough to establish it strongly enough that it would be very difficult to remove. Look at the Affordable Care Act. Imperfect though it was, Republicans have pledged over and over that they're going to get rid of it but when it power it seems they just can't.
  - ryandrake 1y ago
    I hope you're right, but this administration so far has found almost no limit to the number of projects, lives, roles and institutions it can destroy or at least attempt to destroy. And the party that is supposed to be acting as the Opposition is basically letting them do whatever they want unhindered. Unless you consider "holding up little signs and making frowny-faces" to count as "doing something."
    - meepmorp 1y ago
      > Opposition is basically letting them do whatever they want unhindered what do you propose they do, being entirely out of power?
      - netsharc 1y ago
        I feel like the Dems need to be doing a lot of PR, the public needs to hear them attack the Low-IQ autocrat every day. Maybe they're doing this but the media aren't reporting it, in which case they need to engage with the media better... Without this engagement, even if it's just futile noisemaking, the voters will surely think in the next election cycle "why should we vote for you, when you haven't done anything the last 2 years?"
        shigawire 1y ago
        What do you see as "the media"? The media landscape is so fractured, everyone has their own "feed". I have seen Dems constantly attacking Trump, if you haven't consider the news you consume may simply be different. There is not one mainstream to push anymore.
        johnnyanmac 1y ago
        My main media is Reddit, Youtube, and a few other sites so I do in fact see some fight coming out of the D's. There should be much more given the severity of these various issues, but I see some hope. It is sad that legacy media has almost completely given up on reporting most of this stuff, though. as for the "mainstream social media", I'm not sure how effective the instagrams, tiktoks, etc. are at delivering these messages. I know some congressmen on are on there. Perhaps not enough, though. Or perhaps they don't get how to reach their people.
        mrguyorama 1y ago
        Where are Dems supposed to make this noise? They don't have 120 million subscribers like Joe Rogan does. Where is the bullhorn the democrats are supposed to be using that isn't literally owned by a rich guy who benefits from lower taxes when the democrats are not in power? Twitter is owned by Elon. Facebook by Zuck.
        ryandrake 1y ago
        The right did not grow their propagandists and build their bullhorn overnight. They have been planning and moving their chess pieces for decades. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Laura Ingraham... This network and its audience was carefully and strategically built and cultivated over at least 40 years. It's going to take actual planning, hard work, and long hours for the other side to catch up.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago
    The House budget bill is likely to separate more people from health insurance coverage than the ACA increased it by. It may not be an explicitly "repeal the ACA" act, but practically speaking, it will have a similar effect.
- pjc50 1y ago
  I don't think so - the destructiveness of the current administration is really unprecedented.
- analogwzrd 1y ago
  A couple of decades ago tax code transparency and making it easier and cheaper to file your taxes would have been a very Republican policy. Point taken that the current administration is particularly destructive, but I wouldn't expect Democrats to be very staunch in support this either. The tax/accountant lobby would influence both parties.
  - shigawire 1y ago
    But Democrats created the program? Why do you expect they wouldn't support it?
    - johnnyanmac 1y ago
      We've clearly had a more neoliberal congress body in the last decade. So their principles (or outright bribes) to focus on privatization of services would get in the way of such acts.
  - paleotrope 1y ago
    Tax return on a postcard is still in the Republican area of ideas, but they can't seem to get enough actual Congressional Republicans to come on board. It's frustrating. The problem to me is that the Democrats have become so uncompetitive in large swathes of the country, that too many center/moderates/status quos adapt Republican cover to get into office. I'm sure Democrats can complain about their Senators in the same language.
    - yencabulator 1y ago
      It may be a Republican talking point but it's never really been an agenda item for them. All this Direct File stuff is Democrat effort.
- 90s_dev 1y ago
  All software has an expiration date.
- standardUser 1y ago
  It is not typical for an (R) administration to aggressively reverse every decision made by their predecessor. Historically, citizens, businesses and government agencies could all expect significantly more stability from one administration to the next.
- zbentley 1y ago
  > it was doomed before the first line of code was written The Direct File system was live more than a year ago, I thought: https://www.usds.gov/impact-report/2024/directfile/ https://www.usds.gov/impact-report/2024/directfile/ …or did you mean “eventually doomed” rather than “doomed to not ship at all”?
andreygrehov 1y ago
The bill was introduced by the Republican party (Nick Langworthy, co-sponsored by William Timmons). Don't spread misleading/fake information.
- aquova 1y ago
  That would be the current ruling party
  - andreygrehov 1y ago
    That is the current ruling party. Nobody is trying to kill the SHARE It Act. The Direct File was a pilot program. There are other options: https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-file-do-your-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-file-do-your-taxes-for-f...
    - beej71 1y ago
      It was a massively successful pilot that half the country used. The other option is free fillable forms which is dogshit.
- junar 1y ago
  No, I think you have it mixed up. It's quite clear that the authority came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was was well known to have passed without a single Republican vote. It's also quite clear that in the context of the top-level comment, "this program" mentioned means the Direct File as it operates, not the release of source code. > The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law in August 2022.1 Section 10301(1)(B) of the IRS provided the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with $15 million to establish a task force to design an IRS-run, free direct electronic filing (e-file) system commonly referred to as “Direct File” ... https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-03/2025408015fr.pdf https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-03/20... You're bringing up an unrelated law that didn't even exist at the time of the launch of Direct File in early 2024.
  - 1y ago

Sadly this program is being killed by the current admin. This repo looks great. The scala fact graph is super neat and there is clearly a lot of care that went into making the tutorial for it.

ryandrake 1y ago

I'm sure everyone working on this knew it was doomed before the first line of code was written, and that it would be killed as soon as the next (R) was in charge. It was a great accomplishment to get working software released before that happened, but I'm sure nobody was kidding themselves into thinking it would last. The pay-to-file tax lobby is too strong and corrupt.

afavour 1y ago
I don't know about that. Inertia is a strong force but it goes in both directions. Had this administration been a Democratic one four years might be long enough to establish it strongly enough that it would be very difficult to remove. Look at the Affordable Care Act. Imperfect though it was, Republicans have pledged over and over that they're going to get rid of it but when it power it seems they just can't.
- ryandrake 1y ago
  I hope you're right, but this administration so far has found almost no limit to the number of projects, lives, roles and institutions it can destroy or at least attempt to destroy. And the party that is supposed to be acting as the Opposition is basically letting them do whatever they want unhindered. Unless you consider "holding up little signs and making frowny-faces" to count as "doing something."
  - meepmorp 1y ago
    > Opposition is basically letting them do whatever they want unhindered what do you propose they do, being entirely out of power?
    - netsharc 1y ago
      I feel like the Dems need to be doing a lot of PR, the public needs to hear them attack the Low-IQ autocrat every day. Maybe they're doing this but the media aren't reporting it, in which case they need to engage with the media better... Without this engagement, even if it's just futile noisemaking, the voters will surely think in the next election cycle "why should we vote for you, when you haven't done anything the last 2 years?"
      - shigawire 1y ago
        What do you see as "the media"? The media landscape is so fractured, everyone has their own "feed". I have seen Dems constantly attacking Trump, if you haven't consider the news you consume may simply be different. There is not one mainstream to push anymore.
        johnnyanmac 1y ago
        My main media is Reddit, Youtube, and a few other sites so I do in fact see some fight coming out of the D's. There should be much more given the severity of these various issues, but I see some hope. It is sad that legacy media has almost completely given up on reporting most of this stuff, though. as for the "mainstream social media", I'm not sure how effective the instagrams, tiktoks, etc. are at delivering these messages. I know some congressmen on are on there. Perhaps not enough, though. Or perhaps they don't get how to reach their people.
      - mrguyorama 1y ago
        Where are Dems supposed to make this noise? They don't have 120 million subscribers like Joe Rogan does. Where is the bullhorn the democrats are supposed to be using that isn't literally owned by a rich guy who benefits from lower taxes when the democrats are not in power? Twitter is owned by Elon. Facebook by Zuck.
        ryandrake 1y ago
        The right did not grow their propagandists and build their bullhorn overnight. They have been planning and moving their chess pieces for decades. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, Laura Ingraham... This network and its audience was carefully and strategically built and cultivated over at least 40 years. It's going to take actual planning, hard work, and long hours for the other side to catch up.
- PaulDavisThe1st 1y ago
  The House budget bill is likely to separate more people from health insurance coverage than the ACA increased it by. It may not be an explicitly "repeal the ACA" act, but practically speaking, it will have a similar effect.
pjc50 1y ago
I don't think so - the destructiveness of the current administration is really unprecedented.
analogwzrd 1y ago
A couple of decades ago tax code transparency and making it easier and cheaper to file your taxes would have been a very Republican policy. Point taken that the current administration is particularly destructive, but I wouldn't expect Democrats to be very staunch in support this either. The tax/accountant lobby would influence both parties.
- shigawire 1y ago
  But Democrats created the program? Why do you expect they wouldn't support it?
  - johnnyanmac 1y ago
    We've clearly had a more neoliberal congress body in the last decade. So their principles (or outright bribes) to focus on privatization of services would get in the way of such acts.
- paleotrope 1y ago
  Tax return on a postcard is still in the Republican area of ideas, but they can't seem to get enough actual Congressional Republicans to come on board. It's frustrating. The problem to me is that the Democrats have become so uncompetitive in large swathes of the country, that too many center/moderates/status quos adapt Republican cover to get into office. I'm sure Democrats can complain about their Senators in the same language.
  - yencabulator 1y ago
    It may be a Republican talking point but it's never really been an agenda item for them. All this Direct File stuff is Democrat effort.
90s_dev 1y ago
All software has an expiration date.
standardUser 1y ago
It is not typical for an (R) administration to aggressively reverse every decision made by their predecessor. Historically, citizens, businesses and government agencies could all expect significantly more stability from one administration to the next.
zbentley 1y ago
> it was doomed before the first line of code was written The Direct File system was live more than a year ago, I thought: https://www.usds.gov/impact-report/2024/directfile/ https://www.usds.gov/impact-report/2024/directfile/ …or did you mean “eventually doomed” rather than “doomed to not ship at all”?

andreygrehov 1y ago

The bill was introduced by the Republican party (Nick Langworthy, co-sponsored by William Timmons). Don't spread misleading/fake information.

aquova 1y ago
That would be the current ruling party
- andreygrehov 1y ago
  That is the current ruling party. Nobody is trying to kill the SHARE It Act. The Direct File was a pilot program. There are other options: https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-file-do-your-taxes-for-free https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-file-do-your-taxes-for-f...
  - beej71 1y ago
    It was a massively successful pilot that half the country used. The other option is free fillable forms which is dogshit.
junar 1y ago
No, I think you have it mixed up. It's quite clear that the authority came from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was was well known to have passed without a single Republican vote. It's also quite clear that in the context of the top-level comment, "this program" mentioned means the Direct File as it operates, not the release of source code. > The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law in August 2022.1 Section 10301(1)(B) of the IRS provided the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with $15 million to establish a task force to design an IRS-run, free direct electronic filing (e-file) system commonly referred to as “Direct File” ... https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-03/2025408015fr.pdf https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2025-03/20... You're bringing up an unrelated law that didn't even exist at the time of the launch of Direct File in early 2024.
- 1y ago