IRS: Before Getting Started

"The government believes that private industry, given its established expertise and experience in the field of electronic tax preparation, has a proven track record in providing the best technology and services available. In addition, the government believes a partnership with private industry will: provide taxpayers with higher quality services by using the existing expertise of the private sector; maximize consumer choice; promote competition within the marketplace; and meet objectives in the least costly manner to taxpayers."

Just did my 2003 US Taxes and my French Taxes at the same time. The online declaration of the French taxes is smooth, efficient, easy. The US version, on the other hand, is scandalously bad and it's offline (except by spending the time to find a "private" concern to submit my filing and maybe even pay something).

Why is the US online declaration so fastidious? Because of what the the "government" believes! It's along the line of what "they" believe, what "some" believe and what "most people" believe. Who knows just who and what the "government" is? Is it "big government"? The CIA, FBI or Tom Ridge himself? Is it a shadow figure like Richard Perle or Dick Cheney, or is it the official mouthorgan like Bubba Bush? Is it the IRS or is it HHS? We know what the "government" believes, but we don't know whoit is. Furthermore, the "government" should be nothing more than the organ of the people, something around the lines of "by the people, of the people, for the people", and not some separate hulking shadow industry, some lumbering beast that squashes everything in its path.

I'll be happy to tell you what "I" believe: I believe that privatized government is the scourge of modern American. With private "corrections facilities", private military, private education, private medecin, private mass transportation, the US has shown itself to be the most expensive, most inefficient administration in the organized world. The effect of privatization is to move the focus from "how does the government provide good and efficient services" to "how do I make a buck off of all of this and still blame big government?"

However, I also believe that this trend will be reversed in the near future, seeing how the current scandals (i.e. Halliburton) have lifted the shroud over "privatization" and exposed the money-grubbing reality of the situation: that Halliburton is quite willing to overcharge on services and, at the same time, provide the worst of services to the American military. That's OK to the Bubba Bush administration and the elected government officials since they are not concerned (not a single army child of a congressman or congresswoman). So we screw the taxpayers and screw the soldiers: that's the real meaning of privatization.