Monday, May 17, 2004
One click taxes?
A strong push is on at all levels of government to make online self-service a reality. Responding to budgetary pressures and taxpayers’ rising expectations, cities such as New York and Chicago have implemented “311” programs to provide citizens with points of contact for nearly all government issues. Florida is among the states leading the way in putting traditionally time-consuming services online. And in response to the E-Government Act of 2002, federal agencies are scrambling to deploy self-service Web-based solutions to improve service to citizens and make their own workforces more efficient.
But in terms of enabling self-service government, the United States lags behind a number of countries, including Canada, Japan, and especially the United Kingdom, which has mandated that all government services must be available via the Web by next year. Self-service government in the United States is “all over the map,” says Greg Gianforte, CEO of applications vendor RightNow. “Some [governments] are really leading-edge, and there are some that are still in the dark ages.”
If I can't trust my school not to lose my transcript, can I trust the Feds not to lose my Social Security info? Good thing the system's going to be bankrupt by the time it's time for me to collect or I might be worried. The only problem is that there is no system, the funds come from the general fund, and if SS is bankrupt that means the US is bankrupt. Yikes.
But in terms of enabling self-service government, the United States lags behind a number of countries, including Canada, Japan, and especially the United Kingdom, which has mandated that all government services must be available via the Web by next year. Self-service government in the United States is “all over the map,” says Greg Gianforte, CEO of applications vendor RightNow. “Some [governments] are really leading-edge, and there are some that are still in the dark ages.”
If I can't trust my school not to lose my transcript, can I trust the Feds not to lose my Social Security info? Good thing the system's going to be bankrupt by the time it's time for me to collect or I might be worried. The only problem is that there is no system, the funds come from the general fund, and if SS is bankrupt that means the US is bankrupt. Yikes.
