Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax.
A bill supported by Democrats and Republicans would make permanent a program that bars the IRS from ever developing its own online tax filing service.
Justin Elliott
242d ago
New: Congress is about to *make it illegal* for the government to offer free online tax filing. Thank TurboTax.
5,404
New: Juuuust in time for Tax Day.
The for-profit tax preparation industry is about to realize one of its long-sought goals. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.
Two facts:
1. H&R Block and the makers of TurboTax spent $6.6 million lobbying last year. They want to ban the IRS from offering its own free, simple tax filing service.
2. Congress is about to pass a law doing exactly that.
The extent to which all Americans suffer an annual cost in time and money to protect the monopolies of TurboTax and H&R Block is astounding. Is there any issue where Congress is more out of step with citizen desires?
Congress is moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system. Companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have lobbied for years to block the IRS from doing so.
Why is Congress voting to make it harder & more expensive for Americans to do their taxes? Follow the money. Special interests, PACs, & corporations continue to purchase legislation like this. It's time to put people over PACs, country over corporations.
Bill could pass thanks in part to congressional Dems. Rep. Richard Neal (in the news for Trump tax returns) calls himself a champion of the deal that bans the IRS from competing with TurboTax
"A bill supported by Democrats and Republicans would make permanent a program that bars the IRS from ever developing its own online tax filing service."
Richard Neal, the bill's co-sponsor, has received $16,000 in contributions from Intuit and H&R Block.
Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax.
Congratulations to @HRBlock and @turbotax for their successful acquisition of @RepRichardNeal and the entire Democratic leadership.
Congress can’t muster the political will to eliminate the carried interest tax break for private equity titans, but it can get together to prevent free tax preparation for others
Filing your taxes is a pain in the ass, because TurboTax lobbies the government to prevent the IRS from making it easy. And TurboTax is trying to make it illegal for the IRS to help you with tax prep. Worse, Congress is cooperating.
The IRS shouldn't just be able to offer free online filing. It should actually fill out tax returns for most Americans. All you'd have to do is sign the return, and you'd be done.
Intuit and H&R Block have blocked free IRS tax filing for years and may finally win a permanent victory
Whatever your view on the political tax questions, like rates, flat taxes, deductions, capital gains...Democratic and Republican lawmakers are unanimous about giving TurboTax and H&R Block more power, and it's vile
@BR3NDA @verbman @mattwadd @jamesondempsey @piawaugh @danielselman @craigaatkinson @RoundTableLaw @PolicyLabAU @digital_nsw @OpenFisca @mattereum @Xalgorithms It'll take years to realize the vision. The open-source, open-standard philosophy that is necessary to open law in an open society means we have to, as @timoreilly would say, create a whole lot more value than we can capture. Because the alternative is
I understand why the GOP supports this idea - corporate welfare aside, the GOP wants the process of paying taxes to be as painful as possible, since it makes people dislike the govt. But why are progressives like John Lewis and Ron Wyden supporting it?
Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax.
I don't care if @Intuit decarbonizes. I care that they exist. They shouldn't.
Here's some excellent work from @propublica on the issue.
Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax.
Everyone has to file taxes––or they're supposed to, anyway. Shouldn't it be fast, easy, and free? Why is Congress ensuring that private financial companies control the process?
Most Americans could file their taxes, using free IRS software. But the tax accountancy industry is fighting to prevent them
It would probably suck anyway and cost a fortune to create, but I didn't really know that the Tax Prep business had that kind of lobbying money to bribe those whores...
Thanks to @propublica for informing me about this issue with this fantastic reporting. The receptionist I talked to had no idea what I was calling about, but thanks to this article, I was able to easily explain the issue & she promised to get me an answer.
You shouldn’t have to pay... to pay your taxes. And yet TurboTax wants you to do just that.
Why? You guessed it. To protect their profits.
Time for PEOPLE > Profits.
First law of behavior change: If you make it easy, people will do more of it (#nudge; HT Lee Ross)...
Bipartisanism at its best! Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax and donations to GOP and Dems alike.
“Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing.”
Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. — ProPublica