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Comment by timmg | Hacker News Reader

I wonder why there has never been open source tax software. It seems exactly the kind of thing the community would be good at. I imagine it would be hard for very complex taxes. But for the 60% that have simple taxes, I don’t think it should be unmanageable.

Is it a matter of liability? Like I could definitely see a big issue with mistakes — even if it was just operator error.

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https://github.com/IRS-Public/direct-file/tree/main

Fast moving regulations and legislation. You need both a legal and developer team, at least to follow and implement things as soon as they become the law.

Even the revision of yearly variables is a considerable task.

Many laws also exist specifically to keep industries afloat. The complicated tax code keeps many lawyers and accountants in business.

> The complicated tax code keeps many lawyers and accountants in business.

At least, some of the complications in these are not intentional, but result of centuries old evolution of these systems.

Maritime shipping uses centuries old systems to handle costs in shipping accidents for example. I forgot the exact name of the system, but while the method is extremely fair, it's equally complicated. The whole premise stems from "This ship has sailed because you wanted me to carry your cargo", and becomes something mind boggling.

I'm sure there are some steps taken to keep people busy, but chalking up everything to it is unfair and wrong.

Fair points, but there is hostility to fixing a lot of those historical rules for the same reasons. Long-standing business practices is another can of worms, especially ones as international as shipping.

Of course, this is a very complicated matter. I just wanted to point out that the issue has two sides, and it's not clear where a side ends and the other one starts.

I have heard and seen enough horror stories about employee pushback on different scales against automation and simplification.

And often the yearly variables aren't published until a few weeks or months in advance, so it's a scramble every year.

I know a couple of professional accountants. They have yearly regular overtime periods. It's hard on everyone.

Open Tax Solver has been around for years and is still maintained and updated each year.

https://opentaxsolver.sourceforge.net/

The UI leaves a lot to be desired, but it does work and I used it one year.

> Is it a matter of liability?

No, government builds all kinds of IT systems for a wide range of sensitive functions, and they certainly have the means to build or fund an open source tax filing system.

The reason they don’t is twofold: A) massive corporate interests lobby the government to ensure projects like this don’t happen, and B) building functional infrastructure for the people goes against certain political narratives that government is useless and wasteful. If you campaign on the idea that government is inept and wasteful, you’re not likely to support projects that undermine your platform.

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