COMMENTARY--With the April 15 tax deadline approaching, taxpayers are on track to break last year's record of 53 million e-filed returns. So far, there have been 48.5 million returns filed online, over 60 percent of returns overall. That's a gigantic leap from 1997 when just 14 million citizens sought out the Web to file their returns.
Why are more Americans filing their taxes electronically? The answer is fairly simple. Filing taxes online eliminates costs of printing and mailing, reduces errors, and increases tax worker productivity. In addition, by providing taxpayers with easy access to the most up-to-date information and by helping them better understand their responsibilities, taxpayers have an easier time complying with often-complicated tax laws.
With Congress pushing for more Americans to take advantage of Web-based technology to interact with agencies, it's important to understand the direct role that our nation's government can, and must, play in the information technology revolution. It requires investments in technology and the creation of an "e-government" system designed around customer needs.
Only by taking advantage of the Internet will federal, state and local governments be able to truly create a forum that enables citizens and businesses to flourish. While congressional support like this is a step in the right direction, governments need to further embrace technology to become full-fledged e-governments.
To begin with, governments need to streamline access to information, processes and applications so citizens can locate everything they need through one easy access point.
Second, governments must put their constituents first. This means using technology to deliver information and services in new and more meaningful ways that can be personalized to fit individual requirements.
Take for instance the California Franchise Tax Board--which processed 14 million personal income tax and business returns last year. It has already started down this road and is providing their taxpayers with a Web self-service site that enables taxpayers and tax accountants to download forms, get information about the latest tax laws, learn their refund status and respond online to non-filer notices. Through its online system, California is recovering more revenue from delinquent tax filings and is providing taxpayers with a more structured system of payment notifications and communications, as well as better overall information on their tax status.
As government agencies around the world are discovering, technology provides them with the ability to satisfy demands for faster, more-efficient service. Governments have yet to fully embrace the concept of an e-government. In order to do so, each department and agency should view interactions from a total customer-experience perspective to ensure that the technology provides for an efficient and easy-to-use forum for consumers. Otherwise, it will provide no more than a window into individual agencies--and their unconnected processes.
To get there, governments need to break down the walls surrounding their own bureaucracies, so that interdepartmental activities are effortless and productive. This is no simple task. On average, a single government has between 50 and 70 different agencies or departments that need to be connected to deliver services seamlessly for citizens and businesses.
But it is possible. Just look at the successful cross-jurisdiction coordination of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. This voluntary 40-state effort to unify filing procedures for sales and use taxes, aims to ease the administrative burden on U.S. business taxpayers.
And that's only the beginning. The next step for agencies requires a fundamental shift in the way government thinks and conducts business.
Technology strategy should include interactive capabilities that allow ordinary citizens to take real-time, participatory roles in government.
Online hearings, submission of expert testimony, opinion polling, and open communication and information exchange provide opportunities for participation throughout the democratic process--not simply disseminating information after the fact.
Clearly, e-government is an idea that extends beyond tax season. Ultimately, it requires a firm commitment on the part of all governments to be technological role models, setting the IT stage for their citizens and ensuring that those citizens enjoy access to all the technologies available. Many Americans have taken the first step in the right direction and hopefully others will follow.
biography
Marianne Cooper is vice president of IBM's Public Sector division based in Washington, D.C. She is on the Board of the United
Way and Learning Leaders and a member of Women Executives in State
Government and Leadership America.
