$240,000 is really inexpensive in the end. Makes you wonder why most
Companies aren’t; If not already are doing the same.
Republicans are against easy tax filing because Grover Norquist makes them all sign pledges against it, not because of lobbying.
Government is far less accountable than that. Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate.
I’m sure all the workers enslaved in company towns will be happy to know they are free from government meddling.
How do you escape a private business that is (a) big enough to buy up all the competitors, (b) uses IP law to prevent competition, (c) gives it's customers worse service and high prices?
unfortunately, founders never envisioned a congress of career politicians, who would shy away from their duty to actually draft complete laws and enforce them , because politicians want to be friends with everyone.
Lack of term limits, lack of randomness, lack of income caps in government (and post government!), have eroded a sense of duty in our congressional leaders , and have gotten us a congress that is solely in it for its enrichment at the expense of the voters
BUT parent was asking for a government solution to the problem of monopolies. I was merely pointing out that government solution already exists.
And as you rightly point out, persistent monopolies are a government-created problem.
We need the IRS to pre-fill tax forms.
Lol no, not at all. They actively try to deceive consumers through propaganda campaigns (marketing) and deception.
For example, did you know J&J knew about the asbestos problem in their baby powder in the mid 70s? They decided to just lie about it, because they knew cancer agents in their baby powder makes it unappealing to mothers and fathers. We didn't find out about this until 2020. That's 50 years of cancer baby powder.
You don't have any insight into how companies operate. You don't vote on anything. You have zero guarantee they have your interests at heart. How, then, are they accountable? They can do whatever they want, whenever they want.
> Government can have the disapproval of over half the population and continue to operate.
Yeah, until the next election.
I mean, how many people "approve" of the CEO of their company? Surely way fucking less than 50%. Most of the time these CEOs are blatantly evil and stupid. But they call all the shots and you don't get any vote at all.
Why don't citizens just move to a different city/state/country when they disapprove, like they do with businesses?
This is a particular sore spot, as Republicans have still not forgiven the IRS in 2013 for admitting deliberately harassing conservative nonprofits without cause.
Call it a stupid argument, but at least it’s not a strawman like the above comment.
Yes, the rationalization offered to those who don't already subscribe to the ideology of privatization as an a priori goal to get them on board is usually that democratically-accountable public institutions lack a motivation to serve the interest of the public to whom they are accountable, while accountable-to-their-owners private interests do have an motivation to serve the public interest.
“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.” Gregory v. Helvering (2d Cir. 1934)
'The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.' ― Anatole France
Likewise, tax laws are the same for rich and poor people but rich people can take advantage of more loopholes and ways to structure their income to make their effective tax rate much lower. Even just owning a house gives you access to a pretty big tax "loophole" in the ability to deduct interest on your mortgage.
The problem isn't that people are taking advantage of loopholes but rather that the loopholes were created and still exist.
I don't know what finance and investment regulations were in place when Learned Hand was alive, but I do wonder if he'd take the same position in an economy and tax regime so heavily titled to favor the wealthiest.
Norquist does oppose efforts by the IRS to (partially) obviate TurboTax by having the IRS do your taxes [1].
Separately, he has the anti-tax pledge you mention. The former is not entailed by the latter, at least in any obvious way.
So the parent is right about Norquist opposing filing simplification, but wrong about it being related to the infamous pledge.
[1] For those asking for a citation, here's a recent tweet: https://x.com/GroverNorquist/status/1912592196894630291
That said, ime the RoI isn't that hot for the amount of time and effort spent, as relationships do matter more than money as some point political donations have diminishing returns.