OpenTreasury Browse Popular ideas

The Department of Treasury should live webcast all meetings for proposed rule making and regulations where the public comment should take place. They should make these meetings available for on demand viewing and have the ability to have that content be indexed for video search. By doing this the public and stakeholders will be able to see the inner workings of the rule making process and make the content and proceedings ...more »

TeleTax was a well rated, effective way of filing a tax return for millions of people until it was unnecessarily closed. For the majority of people, something like TeleTax or a simplified form that can be filled out on the IRS website (not some random third-party website) should take the place of the 1040EZ. It should allow the IRS to make all the calculations and send the refund/bill. Simplified processes that take less ...more »

The 1,600 members of Open Source for America are dedicated to supporting and guiding federal efforts to make the US government more open through the use of open source software. We have established recommendations for all agencies to consider in their Open Government Plans, with these recommendations especially highlighting the need to remove barriers to the successful leveraging of open source software and open IT more ...more »

Why do millions of Americans have to waste time filling out their own IRS forms, when their taxes are simple and the IRS already knows what they owe? Amend the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program for mailing pre-filled income tax returns to assist certain taxpayers who may be eligible for the earned income tax credit in completing their tax returns. This was proposed ...more »

TREASURY CONSUMER'S BILL OF RIGHTS Note: a hyperlinked version of this text is available at http://bit.ly/TCBoR We, the taxpayers of the United States of America, have the right to be free from government waste and abuse. Inherent in that right is: 1. The right to prevent our taxes from being used to pay banks to refrain from lending commercial paper and to small businesses. Section 128 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization ...more »

Modernize the IRS to allow individuals who have grievances about how an IRS case is handled to make the process less paper-intensive and more due-process oriented. The overwhelming perception that the current system is a virtually "closed process" where extagent circumstances cannot be discussed prior to full compliance, a formal hearing delays handling enormously and case resolutions are inflexible.

Implement a searchable database of every expenditure of federal money. Allow full search of every check written by the Treasury, searchable by date, department, district, and authorizing law. Obviously some expenditures would need to be aggregated for security or privacy reasons, but this very concept has already been implemented by banks and credit card companies for personal accounts. The same level of visibility ...more »

Do you think it's important for Treasury to incorporate voices and ideas of citizens into Treasury policy? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Do you think it's important for Treasury to improve the timeliness and quality of the data that we make open to the public? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Do you think it's important for Treasury to find innovative ways to present and visualize data for citizens? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Do you think it's important for Treasury to make its internal culture more agile and innovative? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Do you think it's important for Treasury to figure out what information is most important to publish? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Do you think it's important for Treasury to learn lessons from innovative organizations outside of government? If so, you can vote for this idea or a leave a comment supporting this idea. And if you've got a better idea, submit your own!

Why are hyperlinks not available to those who are sharing ideas? At least please make inline URLs clickable. Thank you!

2/24/2010 I strongly suggest that all business travel and entertainment expenses should be taxed. This is for all businesses in the United States of America. If your company sends you to China, or any other place in the world. Companies making the following: sales Between $500,000.00 and $1 million,,,, 25% in taxes Between $1 million and $10 million,,,, 50% in taxes Between $10 million and $100 million,, 100% in taxes ...more »