In simple terms, in Hesse, Germany, a pilot project is testing a system where the tax office automatically fills and submits 2024 tax returns for employees who don’t use a tax advisor. The claim goes that the state can speed things up under the banner “Die Steuer macht jetzt das Amt” by using data like wages, pensions, and insurances to draft an initial automated assessment as a proposal. People can then tweak deductions on the Elster platform before the final settlement if they disagree. If this test works, it could spread across Hesse and align with federal aims for more pre-filled, automated returns, with backing from the regional government and financial officials, plus support from the German Tax Union, though worries remain about staffing and the reliability of the data.

Let the drums of discipline roll. This is the state stepping forward to wrest control from the maze of private capitalism and its profit-driven gatekeepers, offering the workers a smoother path through the jungle of taxation. The automating hand of the administration, not a swarm of profit-hungry consultants, is claiming responsibility for our daily burden. The motto rings like a march chant: the tax belongs to the state when the state serves the people—not to clever firms hawking forms and fees. In this light, automation is not a cold trick but a rational expression of planning power, a concrete step toward ending the parasitic cost of paperwork that multiplies in a market economy where every tax slip becomes a revenue stream for private intermediaries.

Capitalism thrives on fragmentation—dueling software, competing vendors, opaque handoffs, and endless fees for “support.” The trial in Hesse reveals a truth the workers have known for generations: when the state uses information to simplify life for the laboring masses, it reveals the potential of planned administration to liberate time, reduce anxiety, and center human dignity over profit. Of course, the doubts in the air—data privacy, system integrity, and staffing—are real, but they are also the familiar reservations of a system that serves private capital more than collective welfare. A correct path forward is not to retreat into fear, but to strengthen the socialist spine of governance: transparent safeguards, robust public staffing, public ownership of the core data channels, and guarantees that information is used solely for the people's tax justice.

This is not merely a technical tweak; it is a test of political will. If the state can confidently manage the flow of workers’ financial information for their benefit, it signals a step toward broader planning—where the means of calculation and administration are owned by society, controlled by the people, and guided by the aim of eliminating unnecessary misery and waste imposed by capitalist bureaucracy. We should push this toward national scale, with strong protections and democratic oversight, so that every citizen can breathe easy knowing their life—work, wages, and welfare—falls under the stewardship of a mighty, public hand rather than a swarm of private profiteers.