Newsgroups: can.general
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!neat.ai.toronto.edu!cebly
From: cebly@ai.toronto.edu (Craig Boutilier)
Subject: Re: income tax: what's this nonsense?
Message-ID: <89Mar30.132620est.38112@neat.ai.toronto.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto
References: <144@mindlink.UUCP> <1989Mar29.002321.5939@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> <1989Mar29.114927.12862@tmsoft.uucp>
Distribution: can
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 89 13:26:09 EST

>In article <1989Mar29.002321.5939@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> kocic@gpu.utcs.UUCP (Miroslav Kocic) writes:
>>In article <144@mindlink.UUCP> a283@mindlink.UUCP (Steve Miller) writes:
>>
>>>Yes I agree! Why don't we all just send in blank signed returns and let their
>>>computer assess what is owed to whom. In the end it's up to them anyway...
>>
>>The man raises a valid point. RevCan gets all documentation from other sources
>>anyway -- ie. employers, financial institutions -- so filing a personal return
>>seems to be a duplication of effort, and a wasteful one considering that most
>
Aside from all the good arguments already posted regarding the importance of
the populace having some idea of what's going on (what deductions exist,
how the system works, etc.), there is also the point that RevCanTax does NOT
have all relevant documentation, nor can it obtain it. Consider things like
moving expenses, medical expenses, charitable donations, and all the other
things I know nothing about. How, for instance, are they going to estimate
your moving expenses (or even know ...) if you are eligible 
for such a deduction?

Craig Boutilier
Dept. of Comp. Sci.
Univ. of Toronto

cebly@ai.toronto.edu