Why should I be the expert?

Tax prep software, I am told by folks who build it, is an expert system. It knows all about it's domain area, and solves problems for me based on this knowledge, and likely information and outcomes. So why am I the expert? I regularly have no idea, at all, what it's asking me but the assumption seems to be that I understand the jargon perfectly. As 2008 tax paperwork begins trickling in, I start thinking of the great idea I came up with last year. How about I don't fill out forms the way the government, or any tax-expert does, and instead I just gather my documents, and enter those. So, right now, I can go to the TaxCut site and say I got a form. They guide me through obvious choices, and I pick "its from a bank or investment management company" (of course, they offer last year's forms and companies as an option) and tell me it's probably a 1099-INT, then I enter that info. Weeks later, as it determines I have probably got everything entered, it asks to make sure, and then goes through all the questions about if I have any farm income, or am blind, or dead or whatever. But why not look at the actual use case, of everyday folks, frustrated by taxes and the piles of paperwork, and use that to solve problems instead of creating more.

Trying to make things too easy

Lets take the tax prep software commercials. Turbotax has this on their website:

Asks Easy Questions
No tax jargon here. Just easy-to-answer, plain-English questions about you, your income and your life. Plus, TurboTax Deluxe, Premier and Home & Business save you time by only asking questions that pertain to your unique tax situation.

I've used such tax software for a few years now. I spent a long time doing it all by hand, because I had a freelance business and other complexity that they didn't address, but for a while now I've been doing the computer based ones. As I am waiting to do the taxes this year, I realized I am accumulating paperwork. That's it. When I have enough, then I'll be ready to fill out the forms. Historically, almost everything that goes into the program is just from those forms. Everyone remembers to send me the right ones, and fills them in right. So, I end up spending a lot of time trying to figure out what "easy" question I need to answer to make sure I fill in the right box for the form I got in the mail. I'd rather have tax prep software that says

What form are you looking at now?

And I type it, or pick from a pulldown of all probable forms. And then I just type in the info in the various boxes. That would seem easy to me. Even if I don't actually know what any of it means. Ask some of those ease guidance questions at the end based on this info if you want. For systems that already have well-entrenched processes, even complex or bad processes, its often best to not buck the trend by trying (probably unsuccessfully in the end) to make things too easy.

Airlines beat mobile operators

Its not just the TSA or similar bureaucracies that mess with the public, the airlines themselves are becoming more unfriendly all the time. We just bought the tickets for Alison's yearly migration back to Canada, and every year it's weirder. Disregarding most of the process, here's the additional taxes and fees portion alone: Yup, $84.68 in taxes and fees that were in no way visible when browsing airfare. For the fare we paid at least, that's almost exactly a 50% tax rate (do the math).