3 ms·
it's a great idea, but there's a slight catch. in theory if this were to get so successful it drives TurboTax et al out of business, then the lobbying dollars e
by gfodor 13y ago
it's a great idea, but there's a slight catch. in theory if this were to get so successful it drives TurboTax et al out of business, then the lobbying dollars evaporate, and suddenly we get legislation to simplify the tax code rendering your project unnecessary. (though I suppose there will always be some advantages to software to prepare taxes, regardless of how simple the tax code is.)
then again, it could depressingly turn out this is the only viable strategy to actually get the desired outcome of a simpler tax code.
- charlieflowers 13y agoBut my god, if you pulled that off, it would be a HUGE success! You would be the catalyst that helped our nation get to a streamlined, efficient tax system.
- snowwrestler 13y agoThere seems to be a misconception that intuit is lobbying to keep the tax code complicated. In fact all they're lobbying against is federally-funded e-filing systems. The tax code is complicated because of all the other lobbying by every interest group in the U.S. For example, banks and realtors lobby super hard to keep the mortgage interest deduction. Tax simplification is politically hard because any change creates winners and losers, and they all fight hard one way or the other. One man's loophole is another's reasonable exemption, deduction, or credit.
- sitkack 13y agoI don't normally do this, but https://xkcd.com/810/ https://xkcd.com/810/