Taxing My Patience

I've complained about the FuBAR and the generally and necessarily convoluted nature of individual taxes administered on a national level.

This year, they've gone a bit farther out into looking-glass land. The FuBAR form is now electronic-only. Not only electronic-only, but it requires the Adobe Reader. The instructions can be read with free software PDF viewers, but the actual form you have to fill-out has to be opened by the Adobe Reader, which, at the time of this post, is no longer available for Linux. (Android (ARM), yas. Linux, No, No, Nooooh!) According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (huh?), it only works on Macs and MSWindows boxes. The pdf file I linked above even goes so far as to say that mobile devices are not supported, although, when you go to Adobe's site, you can download an Android version.

Wait. Let me get this straight -- I have to download a PDF file that I have to open with Adobe's proprietary (and bug-ridden) reader, on a Mac or an MSWindows box, read and follow the instructions in that form, and then fill out the form on-line?

Uhm, no. But it's still just as silly. I have to download that form on a Mac or MSWindows box, fill it out on the bug-ridden Adobe Reader, and submit it through my bug-ridden web browser to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network over the bug-ridden internet. (Who named this agency? How long until the US has its very own Agency of Silly Walks? And where did they learn about electronic document security?)

And somewhere in the "FinCEn" site, there is mention of a digital signature, and the problem of putting two digital signatures on the document when submitted by a married couple, requiring submission of a form to give one spouse the authority to submit for both.

What The Foolishness?

The Constitution was constructed, not so much to protect freedoms or rights, but to prevent this kind of insanity. It is precisely this kind of insanity which allows corrupt officials within a government to commit offenses against the freedoms and rights of individuals with impunity.