Over 3500 German citizens have signed a petition asking the government to make the software required to file income tax returns available for all computer platforms. The Elster software is currently only available for a ubiquitous proprietary platform and the petitioners want to use the software on other operating systems, including the open source Linux.
Within three days of its publication Change.org on 13 June, the petition had already received 500 signatures. The petition aims to reach Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. Peter Wölfel, the initiator of the petition, in announcing his request, referred to clauses in Germany's constitution. He argues that the right to personal freedom and the right to equal treatment and access, imply that electronic government services should not be restricted to a single PC operating system.
He is calling on the minister to make the Elster (German for 'Magpie') software available for other common PC operating systems, or at least ensure that the Elster web portal version offers the same functionalities. Wölfel adds that the available commercial alternatives to Elster are too complex for most freelancers and small companies. He also disagrees with the argument that the market share of other operating systems is too small to make tax client solutions economically viable, as argued by the Bavarian State Tax Office - the public administration responsible for the development of Elster - last year in response to questions from the German IT news site Golem. "Besides, since when is economic viability the only logic driver for a state?"
Tax free
Peter Wölfel, a desktop publishing professional, based in the village of Veitshoechheim, explains that he has in the past approached the Finance ministry and the Bavarian Tax Authorities - in vain. He is pleased by the support for his petition. "It is interesting to see so many that use Linux for their businesses. The encouragement from this community is stronger than I had expected." He hopes to get many more signatures so he can approach the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. "For that to be accepted, the petition would need 50,000 signatures."
The petition gets the support of the Free Software Foundation Europe. "The government needs to finally make it possible to write free software applications for citizens to pay their taxes", comments Karsten Gerloff, president of the advocacy group. "When those taxes pay for software, the state also needs to make that software available to everyone."
More information:
Tax software petition (in German)
Linux Magazine news item (in German)
MacLife news item (in German)
Pro-Linux news item (in German)