[ale] Rant[ish]: government and states requiring proprietary software

[Lightner, Jeff]

The idea isn't that the government should make it as easy as Turbotax but rather that the government should make the forms and online filing available.

Incompetence shouldn't be an acceptable excuse for not doing so.   They certainly have a lot of the publications and what not online and they certainly do have systems that compare the data individuals submit against what employers submit so it IS possible for them to do systems.

I once interviewed with the IRS in their pseudo-top secret location and at the time they were doing systems as new as the ones the Fortune 500 I had just left had purchased just a couple of years earlier.





-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Ron Frazier (ALE)
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 9:36 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Rant[ish]: government and states requiring proprietary software



Derek Atkins <warlord at MIT.EDU> wrote:

>"mike at trausch.us" <mike at trausch.us> writes:
>
>> On 09/14/2012 12:56 PM, Jay Lozier wrote:
>>> What is even worse is the money that could be saved by using FOSS
>>> instead proprietary.
>>>
>>> Also, as far as the forms, why not use web form and send the
>information
>>> directly to the database? I know clueless uncivil misservants stuck
>in
>>> the 1880's; they just got a new office tool - a typewriter
>>
>> I know, right?
>>
>> Why can't I file my 1040 at irs.gov using a Web form?
>>
>> Why can't I file my GA 500 on the GA DOR the same way?
>>
>> Why the HELL isn't the Web being natively leveraged for these things?
>>
>> No, I'm not at all angry, not at all.
>
>Because it would take money away from Intuit, so they lobby against it.

I use intuit.  They probably do a better job with my taxes than the IRS would.  Didn't the IRS spend billions of dollars a decade ago to revamp their 1960's 1970's computer tech, then trash the whole project because it wouldn't work?  I'm not against all govt agencies, my wife works for one.  However, they're not known for being bastions of efficiency or technical advancement.

Ron

>
>>      --- Mike
>
>-derek


--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity.

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong address.  Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
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linuxdude AT techstarship.com


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