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DOGE: America Fucking Around


F250

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19 minutes ago, F250 said:

The USDS and the IRS put together a free tax filing system that had a test run last year. It worked great and allowed many lower income American tax payers to file taxes for free.

DOGE has now replaced the USDS and decided people shouldn't pay taxes for free so they shuttered the program so private companies can collect a fee.

A lot of services offer free tax filing for simplest returns.  How simple, I'm not sure.  Probably incur a fee if you do something like try to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

You would have to supply your own W2 and whatever other docs poors have.

So, in some sense, IRS duplicates whatever else is out there.  And, unfortunately, they probably spent a metric shit ton doing what should have been done a decade ago or more.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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I'm reminded of Eurohorn whining like a baby back bitch in 2016 when we were pointing out that Trump is a fascist. We're going to see education completely crumble between things like this and the DoE likely getting gutted. The wealthy white children will of course still get to learn how to completely bend the law to their will while Chuck Schumer shits his pants in public.

 

 

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19 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

A lot of services offer free tax filing for simplest returns.  How simple, I'm not sure.  Probably incur a fee if you do something like try to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

You would have to supply your own W2 and whatever other docs poors have.

So, in some sense, IRS duplicates whatever else is out there.  And, unfortunately, they probably spent a metric shit ton doing what should have been done a decade ago or more.

Yeah, Intuit has been lobbying against the IRS providing a free tax return system for years but the effort made by the USDS under the Biden administration was probably a waste of money because companies need the transaction fees and your financial data.

Season 25 Lol GIF by The Bachelor

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12 minutes ago, F250 said:

Yeah, Intuit has been lobbying against the IRS providing a free tax return system for years but the effort made by the USDS under the Biden administration was probably a waste of money because companies need the transaction fees and your financial data.

Season 25 Lol GIF by The Bachelor

Still, IRS should have done this a long time ago.  But I see that propublica deal about Intuit.  There seem to be other vendors, as well.

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Two years ago, I started using FreeTaxUSA. It can handle my taxes fine…W2s, capital gains, etc. It even handled a situation that TurboTax couldn’t when my daughter sold stock to buy a car but the sale had to be taxed at my tax rate since she was a minor with a custodial brokerage account.

I don’t qualify for the free tier but it only costs like $12 to file your taxes using it.

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15 minutes ago, Brew said:

Most of the free services are income limited and not that user friendly which (along with rapid refunds) drives a lot of lower income people to H&R Block where they get f-ing fleeced. The free system the IRS built was actually a decent start towards what should be standard which is a government offered filing service. They have your data, click through, agree with it, file, should not be this difficult.
 

As far as your premise that it should have been done a decade ago, okay so what. It was completed and it worked and the R’s have been after it since day one as an unapproved use of funds. My rep keeps sending us emails about how he is helping us, I keep emailing him back telling him he’s not helping me. We’re not here to do everyone’s work, a free service should absolutely be mandatory and would actually help us.

I just have kind of a pet annoyance with government and IT systems.  The Patent Office, of all places, user-funded, has had online filing for 20-plus years.  Way ahead of the worlds other patent offices, courts and other quasi-judicial systems.

It's a generalized complaint that includes underfunding of the IRS.

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9 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

A lot of services offer free tax filing for simplest returns.  How simple, I'm not sure.  Probably incur a fee if you do something like try to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

You would have to supply your own W2 and whatever other docs poors have.

So, in some sense, IRS duplicates whatever else is out there.  And, unfortunately, they probably spent a metric shit ton doing what should have been done a decade ago or more.

The free services were far more limited than what the IRS's free file service was. The IRS's free file service was not limited by income, it was limited by the types of reporting documents that a person had. There were also, as I recall a couple types of deduction that it wouldn't process. But it probably handles the income the vast majority of people have. For the rollout purposes it was geographically limited last year. 

 

The free services are often difficult to find and,as you mentioned, the websites try really hard to sell you on every single upsell they can find. And plenty that most people don't need.

Edited by elfenix
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24 minutes ago, Fastbreak said:

In Singapore you get a text message. “You owe X in taxes. Press 1 to pay now. Press 2 to pay by the month”

That’s it.

Singapore is doing pretty well. Last I checked it has the highest percentage of millionaires in the world.

The IRS for years has wanted to do what most other countries do, which is calculate your taxes for you, send you a proposed return, and have you add on any random income they wouldn't be aware of (which for most of us is $0, since the IRS also receives a copy of your W-2s, K-1s, 1099s, etc.).  Republicans always block it.

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1 hour ago, Keef said:

The IRS for years has wanted to do what most other countries do, which is calculate your taxes for you, send you a proposed return, and have you add on any random income they wouldn't be aware of (which for most of us is $0, since the IRS also receives a copy of your W-2s, K-1s, 1099s, etc.).  Republicans always block it.

Right, don't most actual functioning countries basically file your taxes for you automatically and it's on you to look for any discrepancies? Seems like that would likely collect a shitload more taxes because of people fucking up, but yes the GOP is committing to making sure our ability to collect taxes is intentionally disrupted.

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2 hours ago, Keef said:

The IRS for years has wanted to do what most other countries do, which is calculate your taxes for you, send you a proposed return, and have you add on any random income they wouldn't be aware of (which for most of us is $0, since the IRS also receives a copy of your W-2s, K-1s, 1099s, etc.).  Republicans always block it.

Here's the thing, that doesn't help the rich in any way, shape, or form.

So forget it, pleb, and get back to work.

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1 hour ago, GSU&UT said:

Right, don't most actual functioning countries basically file your taxes for you automatically and it's on you to look for any discrepancies? Seems like that would likely collect a shitload more taxes because of people fucking up, but yes the GOP is committing to making sure our ability to collect taxes is intentionally disrupted.

Oh absolutely. Hiring an extra IRS agent nets a stupid return for the government. That doesn’t change the laws of course, or raise taxes in any way. It just better captures folks who are skirting things.

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Torching all leases for federal offices.

”One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space.

Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-gsa-terminate-office-leases-f8faac5e2038722f705587c8dd21ab26?user_email=dabc81d5ec766cfb0c88230c077bd88afdc57894c6b8dcdfcf8102146e6ce9b3#

 

I presume there is a financial penalty to violating lease terms. And, as skunk said, the government will have to reinstate that which was cut stupidly, which will incur additional cost, so, how much money do they think they are saving? 
 

Flood the lowlands! Leave no water for crops!

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51 minutes ago, Willfully Horn said:

Torching all leases for federal offices.

”One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space.

Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-gsa-terminate-office-leases-f8faac5e2038722f705587c8dd21ab26?user_email=dabc81d5ec766cfb0c88230c077bd88afdc57894c6b8dcdfcf8102146e6ce9b3#

 

I presume there is a financial penalty to violating lease terms. And, as skunk said, the government will have to reinstate that which was cut stupidly, which will incur additional cost, so, how much money do they think they are saving? 
 

Flood the lowlands! Leave no water for crops!

Terminating all office leases and mandatory RTO?

Co-working spaces gain popularity in India - Asia Times

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next up...NOAA and NWS

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/doge-noaa-headquarters

Quote

 

They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

Project 2025, written by several former Trump staffers, has called for the agency to be “broken up and downsized”, claiming the agency is “harmful to US prosperity” for its role in climate science.

 

another win for the gulf states. good luck lol

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11 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

Torching all leases for federal offices.

”One of the next moves in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping effort to fire government employees and curtail operations is using the agency that manages thousands of federal employee worksites around the country to cut down on office space.

Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-gsa-terminate-office-leases-f8faac5e2038722f705587c8dd21ab26?user_email=dabc81d5ec766cfb0c88230c077bd88afdc57894c6b8dcdfcf8102146e6ce9b3#

 

I presume there is a financial penalty to violating lease terms. And, as skunk said, the government will have to reinstate that which was cut stupidly, which will incur additional cost, so, how much money do they think they are saving? 
 

Flood the lowlands! Leave no water for crops!

Just renewed a lease with USDA, when do I get my check for the remainder of the lease? I have a really good client that has really long-term leases on courthouses, post offices, etc be interesting to see what he hears.

Did it ever occur to anyone to actually have a plan with reasonable goals that could be targeted rather than just widespread chaos and see what’s left? Who am I kidding, what sense would that have made?

Edited by Brew
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Even if anyone had elected Elon Musk to anything, the last week would still be one of the most serious examples of executive branch malfeasance in American history.

Musk has seized hold of critical levers of power and authority within the federal government, apparently enabling him to destroy federal agencies at will, barring congressional action or judicial pushback.

 

Quote

The only institution capable of responding to this with any alacrity is Congress. But Congress is also led by Republicans, and both the Senate majority leader, John Thune, and the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, have declined to take any steps to arrest the president’s illegal arrogation of power or Musk’s destructive effort to run the federal government. Thune and Johnson, acting with the support of Republicans in both chambers, have, in effect, renounced their power over the purse and abnegated their powers of oversight. Their Congress is supine, submissive and subordinate, less the equal of the president than a tool of the executive branch — a subject of his will.

Somewhere, King Charles I is jealous.

 

Quote

And so the president’s opponents, whoever they are, cannot expect a return to the Constitution as it was. Whatever comes next, should the country weather this attempted hijacking, will need to be a fundamental rethinking of what this system is and what we want out of it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/opinion/trump-musk-federal-government.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uk4.zDOu.PIwGCvmzz0Ks&smid=url-share

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