A Final Word Before Vacation

I mostly I guess work for the state government. My job has a legislative mandate to protect a private fund, and the costs for doing what I do are paid for by that private fund. Associated with what I do is tons of paperwork. Tons. Fortunately, it looks like we'll be shifting to mostly electronic forms in the next six months.

We, the state government bureau that I work for, will be paying for the technology to make this shift, and in the end it will save a lot of time and money. The 21st Century, as scary as the technology is getting, is getting very efficient. Global commerce is benefiting greatly from electronic forms and documents being the new standard. That's one benefit, and there are countless others.

But let's talk about the federal government, and particularly how they directly interact with each of us. Did anyone notice how it costs $18 to file your tax return online? They promote e-filing to save them (ultimately, that is collectively us, right?) time and money. They promote it, promote it, promote it & promote it again & again because it is such a good idea to not cut down any more trees for paper. So then, why in the world would they charge you a fee for a service that saves them & us money and time and paperwork? It's a racket and a sham. But they do it because they can.

Done venting.