
2017 Tax Software Developer's Guides and Test Cases - _jn
https://www.mass.gov/lists/2017-tax-software-developers-guides-and-test-cases
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hutattedonmyarm
I found out yesterday that the German government provides a flowchart for
developers wanting to calculate income tax

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W0lf
Can you provide a link to the mentioned flowchart as well, please?

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germanier
It's on [https://www.bmf-steuerrechner.de/interface/pap.jsp](https://www.bmf-
steuerrechner.de/interface/pap.jsp)

However, this is the calculation for the monthly (pay as you go) wage tax and
other deductions and not the yearly income tax.

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kss238
A government website with a decent mobile version. Is this a first?

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madeofpalk
There's been a lot of effort put into 'government digital transformation' over
the past few years.

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madeofpalk
You should see how I file my personal income tax, or my quarterly business tax
account, in Australia. Completely responsive and accessible.

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sowhatquestion
Very impressive. Does the federal government have anything comparable to this?

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craftyguy
That is the federal government.

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hshehehjdjdjd
No, it is the government of Massachusetts.

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craftyguy
Oops.

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dokem
Does anyone choose to write this kind of software?

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scrollaway
I'm one of those nutjobs who actually enjoys working with billing and payment.
There's something soothing to writing software which has to be highly tested,
well-written and handle lots of edge cases.

It's a sharp contrast to the day-to-day startup philosophy of "move fast and
break things".

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scarface74
Exactly. The type of software for which it is easy to write automated unit
tests and only the most clueless manager would not give you the time and
resources to do so.

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codecamper
this is so awesome!

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microcolonel
Good to have it, better not to need it.

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JadeNB
> Good to have it, better not to need it.

The same can surely be said about any problem software is meant to solve (that
it's good to have test cases, but better not to have the problem); and such an
impossibly general remark seems not to be very useful.

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Cheezmeister
Flat tax. No more problem.

At least, that's what I'm guessing was meant by the grandparent. That's all
_I_ can manage to think at any rate,* is how many tax dollars and man-hours
have gone into producing this guide, let alone the rest of the industry that's
built up around the somehow herculean task of paying one's tax†, literal
myriads of jobs which provide no real value to anyone‡, save that of relief
from navigating the Gordian monstrosity that is our tax code: a societal
negative value of epic proportions which (unlike so many of the real hard
problems facing us today) could just vanish by simply bulldozing the rulebook.

The rules, the exceptions, the loopholes, the brackets, the cutoffs, the
deductions, the exemptions, the penalties, the incentives, all of it. Burn it
to the ground. Everybody pays 30%, or whatever. Or perhaps everybody earning
below $FAT_STACKS pays 30% * ($MY_SAD_SALARY / $FAT_STACKS). Or whatever.
Better yet, let's tax consumption instead of production. Perhaps excepting
food, clothing, shelter. Treat yoself? Have at it, but 40% of that Cessna goes
to Uncle Sam. That 1.2kg of bling? Okay, only 30% because it doesn't pollute,
it just looks stupid.

Of course, none of that's going to happen. If I'm honest, I'd be a happy
camper if only the Infernal Rich Suits didn't put the onus on _me_ to run my
numbers through this Rube Goldberg device you cooked up and ostensibly
understand. _Especially_ as you already have my W2⁂, heck thanks to
withholding you already have my money! I never had a choice in the matter! So
why the pointless exercise, either calculate the bloody number and send a
check (or just venmo me yo), or just _keep_ it all, and please don't break my
kneecaps. The guns are on your side, after all. But let's not get into a 2nd
Amendment debate this early in the morning.

...whoops, I ranted there a bit. I might be a little stressed, something about
this time of year. Can't quite put my finger on it. But don't worry, once
April 20th rolls around, the herbal remedies⬫ will take effect and I'll be
back happy as a clam.

* (once past the initial "hmm, that's mildly interesting")

† by "tax" I mean specifically income tax in the US. There are of course
bunches of other taxes, but they generally work as intended and don't cause
hypertension

‡ with apologies to tax pros, you're all fantastic humans and like no offense,
but your job shouldn't exist

or at least encyclopedic proportions

⁂ along with my savings balance, stock portfolio, credit score, marriage, er,
relationship status, and what I ate for breakfast, because like it or not, Big
Brother is manifest

⬫ which God gave us, which grow out of the dirt just like corn, which I, a
grown-up, have the liberty to consume because I live in this great nation
which was founded on such liberty. And justice. For all. Except the president.
Because he's special. Very special.

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JadeNB
I did not mean to suggest that there was no remedy to the problem of taxes
(although my suspicion is that any two-word solution is probably too
simplistic), but rather that, given the existing problem of taxes, it is
better to have these test cases than not. (Similarly, it is better not to have
starvation or poverty than to have charities that help the starving and the
poor, but, given the existence starvation and poverty, it is better to have
the charities than not.)

The people who wrote the test cases are presumably not the people who wrote,
or who can change, the tax code; they were making the world better in the way
that was available to them.

