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Comment by EatingWithForks | Hacker News Reader

> I hate to say it though, but it's also extremely possible it would cost a lot of money with nobody using it because it sucks.

IMO The government should directly be hiring the best and the brightest with the pay to match. I would be more than happy to pay more taxes at my pay grade (or would support higher capital taxes) for free e-filing that's easy, fast, and multiplatform. However my taxes are raised would surely be cheaper than what I pay my accountant annually to file for me.

It's ridiculous to me that government contracting is always expected to cheapen out for "efficiency". Governments should have excellent software and product minds on staff at all times to manage communication and data internally and externally, imo.

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Yet most US constituents, of all parties and socioeconomic status, seethe at the thought of a government worker of any level making “too much” money.

It doesn’t matter that someone working for the government has the potential to have a much higher impact on a nationwide level than some rank and file worker who works at some blue chip auto insurance company, the moment increased pay for government workers is even brought up, that person imagines it as coming directly out of their paycheck.

See teachers, urban planners, sanitary workers, NASA scientists, etc…

It’s a shame, because I have the unpopular opinion that _more_ government, filled with talented people who actually want to _fix_ the issues they’re passionate about, is the answer to almost all of the USs domestic problems. Right now the highest paid government workers are those on the brink of retirement in administrative positions so far removed from any real work. A bureaucracy of gerontocracy, if you will. I really wish the government (not the political world, but the civil staff) was seen as as a place for passionate young people to aspire to, with the pay to match.

The highest paid state government workers are typically coaches. Go figure.

This is pretty simple to explain: Governments respond to a completely different incentive structure than private companies. It shouldn’t be surprising that their outcomes differ, even (especially?) when the government spends more.

Here's the thing, though. Tax filing should not be a thing nearly anyone actually does. The IRS already knows what you made. I should be able to log into a website and verify that it's correct, or receive a letter, or both, and sign off on it. If my tax situation is complicated then I should be able to log into that same platform and tell them that I will be filing proper documentation.

I agree with the rest of your statement but while Conservatives exist with their two Santa Claus nonsense then it won't matter.

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