Big Idea: Making Taxes Easier

Imagine: You go to a store, buy things with your credit or debit card, listed on your receipt, why not also have the store send the list/cost of each item you buy, instead of just the total, to the bank? Who then displays that info in your account by purchase and total (as they do now), but also lists each item and amount included in that purchase, and allows you to then go through each night or weekly or monthly, and just check any tax deductible items, make a memo or category designation. At the end of the year, you just print it out, all taxes and calculations are done and figured for you. Easy!

I think most Americans are disappointed that all this information corporations and the government are collecting is not being put to better use to make our lives easier and more convenient.

Almost all stores readily collect and already have this information, all they need to do is share it with you the customer and your bank, who sets up a convenient viewing platform to allow you to easily organize it and make tax category designations (or allow your bookkeeper or accountant to access it and do so for you with your permission/oversight).  This would make pretty much EVERYONE's lives easier and save a whole lot of hassle. Further, it would pretty much eliminate most tax issues for regular people.  It would also result in far more accuracy in your tax returns/filings.  You would be happier with much less hassle and more free time, and the government would be happier with better more accurate tax collections. Hundreds of thousands of folks would be in less trouble with the IRS.

It's always bugged me that they have this information and could make our lives so much easier, and don't. I spend hours, days, weeks, chasing down paper receipts, trying to organize and input them, a lot of times the actual ink on the receipt fades to become unreadable before the end of the year, or get lost/misplaced, you have to use an online tax program or hire a bookkeeper or a tax accountant, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You probably do too. It's just nuts! And it's really completely fucking insane considering how easy this kind of system would be for stores and banks to set up, they already collect and store all this information, or most of it, anyway. We just need them talk to each other, exchange the information, set up an easy to use customer interface.  It's not rocket science. 

The whole idea is pretty simple, and fairly easy to configure and put in place, but revolutionary.



Imagine the possibilities that could make your and others' lives more convenient, and pursue them.

Mr. President, A Legacy Of Secrecy?

Americans want privacy, and security, and for their government to know and respect the difference. But I would not want to be the government spokesperson called on to defend the drawing of that line.

And "trust me," Mr. President, may be the truth, but it's also not what people want to hear in a climate of wiretapping of reporters and the IRS going after your enemies, even if they shouldn't be tax free.

Drones have no secrets, but those caught on either side of their use do.  Are they terrorists?  Are you sure? We need you to be sure.  But we need you to be sure that we are safe.  No room for mistakes or doubt.  Grey is not an acceptable color choice.  But neither is blood red.  We prefer the illusion of black or white.

The NDAA has done you no favors and your signing statement does not bind the next administration.  Nor has Congress being wishy-washy on closing Guantanamo.  Everybody hates terrorists, but nobody wants a terrorist prison in their back yard, even a super-high max, no one has ever escaped, prison.

There can be no leaks, but no wiretapping of reporters.  No reading of emails or listening in without a warrant.  But when you appoint all the prosecutors and judges on the FISA Court, and cloak it in top secrecy, telling people who don't trust you to "trust you" is never a successful strategy.  It merely begs the question. You may be doing the right thing.  Striking the right balance.  But you will never convince us in secret.  The perfect political shit storm is brewing.  Be careful, Mr. President, or this will be your true legacy. 

We will hear a lot of "I welcome this discussion" over the next few weeks.  And little to no real answers. Providing real answers on how to balance privacy and secrecy is a highly flammable practice, considering no answer will ever be a satisfactory answer to all.  And while that may always be true, the percentage of disgruntled will be particularly high for these issues.  We all want to be safe, in private.

Nobody wants to be the defender of the line.  It's a no win situation.  The left, the right, the center, the up and the down will all attack with a voracious ferocity usually only displayed by the tin-foil hatted in hot pursuit of a particular suspected gay pinko facist totalitarian black Kenyan, eh Mr. Clapper?

Never mind that we live in a complicated world that is getting more complex at an exponential rate.  That is the nature of computers.  They are quite useful, until they don't work or are pointed at you.

We are a silly lot.  Confused even.  But do not pour gas on our fire.  Delusional though it may be.

We're all too busy asking, like Jay Leno: "When did the government become our psycho ex-girlfriend?"

Don't laugh Mr. President.

Is it possible to draw a perfectly balanced line?  Is it possible to provide safety without ever invading privacy?  Where would you draw that line?  And how would you defend it?  O' the possibilities!