Treasury Secretary Bessent said the fate of Direct File would reflect customer service. But users loved it. It had a more positive brand than Apple and a 98% satisfaction rate! It also brought more low-income people into the tax system, which matters since so many benefits are distributed that way. - ThreadSky

donmoyn.bsky.social • 1 day ago

Treasury Secretary Bessent said the fate of Direct File would reflect customer service. But users loved it. It had a more positive brand than Apple and a 98% satisfaction rate! It also brought more low-income people into the tax system, which matters since so many benefits are distributed that way.

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gabigueron.bsky.social•1 day ago

If the poor file, they will get their tax refunds, and that’s bad.

brahn.bsky.social•1 day ago

https://bsky.app/profile/brahn.bsky.social/post/3ln246lpju22p

reggiemoto.bsky.social•1 day ago

It will be back once the orange menace and his henchmen have been flushed out of office

b-korb.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think they were dragging their feet on 1099 income.
Torpedoing the whole thing is far worse, of course,
but I still think Intuit and H&R were sandbagging it.

brewlord.bsky.social•1 day ago

My son used it in February, worked great except the connection for CT was glitch, probably a problem with CT end. Daughter tried to use it at the last minute, couldn't get her account set up, and the irs wasn't going to get back to her until after the deadline and denied her extension.

brewlord.bsky.social•1 day ago

So she had to use Turbotax or one of the others, so the system is probably already broken intentionally.

donmoyn.bsky.social•1 day ago

I've talked to people working on Direct File. It succeeded because a) it was built in-house with b) dedicated civic technologists who obsessed about making user experience better. It showed that government could build good tech more cheaply and effectively than external vendors. So it had to go.

rismith.bsky.social•1 day ago

How are you going to seek rent from the rent seekers if the rent seekers can't seek rent from others?

lalee508.bsky.social•1 day ago

Now there’s some waste. If they were actually looking. Spend money building something users like and kill it because of one man’s ego.

henryhill1.bsky.social•1 day ago

I filed early this year, and didn't trust using it because of trump taking over with a wrecking ball. Not surprised in the slightest that it's gone.

*Everything's going to be 'gone.'

donmoyn.bsky.social•1 day ago

The fact that Direct File existed was an intolerable affront to the DOGEists that pretend to do what the Direct File technologists actually did. They have pushed out civic tech orgs (18F, USDS, Office of Transformation, Defense Digital Service) across government.

mrkd26.bsky.social•1 day ago

When Musk fired the programmers in the Office of Transformation, Defense Digital Service, he replaced them with his own programmers who had previously applied for jobs, and been rejected because they did not meet the strict entry requirements. (One did not even get to the first interview)

donmoyn.bsky.social•1 day ago

Direct File demonstrates both the best of what is possible in govt, as well as the the impulses toward mindless administrative vandalism that has defined the Trump regime.

Right now it feels important to record what is being lost and put hope in the future.
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-of-direct-file

inkenheimer.bsky.social•1 day ago

Remember, the suffering is required by the fascists. If you are merely complacent, you might be following your own inner voice, but your overt suffering and loss of hope signals to them that you are under their power, which is all they actually want.

deekmd.bsky.social•1 day ago

I love the term “administrative vandalism” and I’m stealing it sorry

wodafuh.bsky.social•1 day ago

I used to do taxes for my sister in Brazil. That consisted of downloading an app from the government that preloaded all the information from the previous year. The app is available to the public free of charge. It usually took me about 10 minutes to edit and submit. No tax preparation predators.

b-korb.bsky.social•1 day ago

Resurrect the program in 1,374 days.

lrshedupodcast.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump 2 bugaloo cements my hypothesis

capitalism = murdered pro social relationships replaced with cruel miserable violent transactions they call markets

jenrm.bsky.social•1 day ago

The phrase "immiserate everyday Americans" suggest that whoever was quoted there understands Turchin's elite overproduction model of history, which argues that immiseration rises as elites flight with each over a tiny number of "drivers seats" (causing the "car" to be driven less well).

donmoyn.bsky.social•1 day ago

If you have worked in the civic tech space in the federal government, my Lab and the Beeck Center are organizing exit interviews to capture lessons learned. You can sign up here:
https://georgetown.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6KG5hvXaUPSs5ds

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