Lotta talk about state capacity lately- before tackling big things like climate change, health care, or even infrastructure it would be great if the government could let us know it's still alive by automating tax return filing
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serious about this- everyone hates filing tax returns, it's a huge waste of time, and there's relatively few entrenched interests opposing it compared to the larger considerations
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opposition is - tax filing companies (H&R block, etc) - tax accountants at large - existing IRS employees who would no longer be needed - politicians paid off by all of the above am I missing anyone?
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and you can sell it to everyone: - left auth: easier for the govt to collect taxes - left lib: helps poor disproportionately impacted by complex system - right auth: make the government run on time - right lib: Abolish The IRS - centrists: Europe does it, why can't we?!
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Replying to @The_Lagrangian
Strong agreement with the program in “ought” space, but skeptical that it will happen in “is” space. What political approach would acknowledge that this is unlikely without giving in to “everything is hopeless; we’re all doomed”?
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Replying to @Meaningness
unclear- I think the
@SamoBurja angle would be that this could be solved simply by getting the right person in charge of the IRS. but then the popularity doesn't really matter since that's an appointed position. feels like it could be part of a Yang-like platform though3 replies 1 retweet 2 likes
fwiw, without knowing much about it, I doubt head-of-IRS could change much. There’s a ton of legislation that they can’t do anything about, and also a billion pages of regulations that can’t just be axed; good-faith efforts to figure out what’s junk and what’s needed are required
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