openfisca-france VS UsTaxes

The french initiative started in 2013 is still alive (last commit a few days ago), and passes the gov test suite (they keep in touch with our version of the IRS): https://github.com/openfisca/openfisca-france

The way we got this is interestingly twisted.

French citizens requested the software used by the administration, and they managed to get it!

But, it's was written in Mlang is a proprietary language created by the french administration in the 90: https://github.com/MLanguage/mlang.

Someone then decided to create an OCaml compiler that takes mlang and emits python: https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.07966

As a result, we got we got open fisca. I know believe there are other techs in the mix...

A slide of the story: https://www.slideshare.net/Etalab/opening-up-the-french-tax-...

That line in the summary is a bit misleading. The authors didn't find a "bug" in any law - instead they found a corner case that wasn't included in an online tool hosted by the French government to estimate family benefits under French law:

> After close inspection of the OpenFisca code, a discrepancy was located with the Catala implementation. Indeed, according to article L755-12 of the Social Security Code, the income cap for the family benefits does not apply in overseas territories with single-child families. This subtlety was not taken into account by OpenFisca, and was fixed after its disclosure by the authors.

Here's the pull request for their fix to the benefits simulator: https://github.com/openfisca/openfisca-france/issues/1426

I’ve been using https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes ; cross-checked with my manual form filing and it’s spot on. Print and mail and save the hassle :)

There is an AGPL program to fill the 1040 form. https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes

Yes.

We (PublicDomainCompany.com) are going to do it if someone doesn't beat us to it first. Will be a 2023 project for us (https://github.com/breck7/copypastetaxes).

I've been a supporter of https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes and they are doing amazing grunt work that will be a big part of the solution.

Also, here's a great image of the first income tax return:

Sort of tangentially, I'm working with other contributors on https://ustaxes.org, an open source tax filing webapp https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes.

Currently, many Federal tax forms are supported, as well as tax filing for the state of Illinois. Filing for Oregon and California is under development!

- https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes

Anyone can write tax filing software. There are free and open source solutions. Given how much good it would bring to "the people", more developers should work on this. https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes

I'm working with other contributors on https://ustaxes.org, an open source tax filing webapp https://github.com/ustaxes/UsTaxes. The goal is to make tax filing free for everyone.