The average municipal tax form is written at a post-graduate reading level. The average resident reads at a year-10 reading level. That gap is not a small problem — it is the problem.
What plain language actually means
Plain-language rewriting is not dumbing down content. It is increasing the fidelity between what a person reads and what they understand. Done right, it is more precise than legalese, not less — because every ambiguity has to be resolved before a sentence can be simplified.
The method we use
- Every service flow is drafted in plain language first, then back-checked against the originating statute.
- Every policy document ships with a side-by-side plain and legal version.
- Every rule change in the last 30 days is summarized in under 140 characters on the public change log.
- Plain-language versions are versioned alongside legal ones — you can see exactly what changed and when.
What we got wrong
In our first draft of the benefits explainer, we collapsed three distinct tiers into a single summary sentence. It was readable — and subtly wrong. A resident flagged it, we re-drafted it, and now every summary includes its confidence boundary. Mistakes like that are why we publish the diff log.
The hardest part of plain language is admitting how little the original actually meant.
From the Editorial Style Guide