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Crunch Time For IRS Data Centers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bits-and-bucks dept.

1sockchuck writes "It's crunch time for the Internal Revenue Service. As the IRS processes the annual crescendo of returns around today's tax deadline, the state of the agency's infrastructure depends upon who you ask. IT executives at the IRS say it has made huge strides in modernizing its data centers, which processed 139 million returns and issued $298 billion in refunds in 2009. Independent tests say the IRS web site is the fastest US government site, and one of the fastest on the web. But a key government watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, says the modernization effort hasn't moved quickly enough, and continues to fault the IRS for security weaknesses."

2 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. It could be easier by Mr_Blank · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... if it were simpler. Why is the Federal Tax Code 3.7 million words? If the tax code were simpler, then those servers would have a much easier time of it.

          Scanning today's news turns up a lot of good examples for how the code could be simplified.

    The five dumbest parts of the U.S. tax code

    1) Ethanol credits increase the price of food, and give paper manufacturers more money in credits than they make from selling paper.
    2) Exemption for inherited stock-gains.
    3) Mortgage-interest deduction encourages people to buy as much house as they can afford, and encourages owning over renting to the detriment of other investments.
    4) Exemption on employer-provided health insurance encourages employers to give more health insurance instead of wage increases, and discourages health insurers from competing on price.
    5) Municipal-bond-interest exclusion gives more benefit to rich bond owners than it does to the municipalities that issue the bonds.

    Congressman Wyden leads effort to simplify tax code

    Taxes: There is a Better Way by U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg

  2. Re:Good for them by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't use thousands of clerks to figure out what could be a flat percentage of people's income. I also don't use nuclear ICBMs and wouldn't want to. I do send money to places like Haiti, already did before the earthquake, and do a lot more good with it without some random number of federal fuck-ups handling the money on the way there and getting paid a salary out of my funds to fill out more paperwork about it.

    Just exactly how much waste, corruption, and antisocial behavior is acceptable? How much of our taxes actually pay for services? How much of our income does the empire deserve, and how much are we willing to give up for stupidity in our name?