[triceratops]

> Presumably they meant free as in beer. But free as in freedom involves a lot more than that

What does it involve?

The government already has a computeTax implementation that they use to verify that your return is correct. We're just asking them to give everyone else access to it. Not really sure what freedoms are harmed.

[freeopinion]

That's kind of my point. Why do we need to file a tax return at all if the government already knows everything? Why should we ever get a return? Did you ever get a sales tax return?

[triceratops]

> Why do we need to file a tax return at all if the government already knows everything?

Most people wouldn't need to, because the government knows most tax-relevant information about most people at tax time. But it doesn't know everything about everyone. So it seems you're driving at

> If you want the govt to make tax management simple, have them simplify the tax code.

Presumably you mean get rid of all the different types of deductions and credits that can affect your taxes and only become known to the government at tax time.

That's easy to say, but really hard to do. Close to impossible. Rewrites of codebases are generally a bad idea. The tax code is also a codebase (more of a specification, but whatever). Only it's a codebase written by politicians and their staff and lobbyists. Imagine how much time you spend at work arguing about stupid shit, and everyone involved is technical. Now imagine the same discussion with non-technical people and voters and TV ads.

> Why should we ever get a return? Did you ever get a sales tax return?

It's called a refund. A return is the paperwork you file.