Tax companies like Intuit (owners of TurboTax) and H&R Block spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying governments into making it harder for people to file their own taxes in the US and Canada.

[psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place]

Tax companies like Intuit (owners of TurboTax) and H&R Block spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying governments into making it harder for people to file their own taxes in the US and Canada. And they’re succeeding.

Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America’s Taxpayers - The American Prospect

The successful IRS free tax filing program is being wound down, thanks in large part to Intuit’s copious spending in Washington.

The American Prospect (prospect.org)

Just a moment...

(www.opensecrets.org)

[invadersil@mastodon.social]

@psychicparrot42 For anyone else reading this in the US, FreeTaxUsa. I used it for the first time this year. Great for my use. Your mileage may vary.

[psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@invadersil I could be wrong, but from what I can work out it looks like that may be ending this year now, thanks to Intuit. That first article I linked says "IRS free tax filing program is being wound down" and according to Wikipedia FreeTaxUsa uses the IRS Free File program ... /\

[invadersil@mastodon.social]

@psychicparrot42
*sadness*
Fine, you win IRS. I will send you paper. Is that what you want? IRS!!!

[psychicparrot42@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@invadersil They're trying to do the same thing here in Canada, too. No idea how successful they'll be, but they have *really* deep pockets and our government seems to be up for sale soooo who knows??

[midnightspire@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@psychicparrot42 @invadersil From what I can tell from the article, they are ending Direct File, which was a brand-new tax prep service provided directly by the IRS. Free File and general e-filing are different programs. FreeTaxUSA is a third-party business, so they should continue on, unless I'm missing something.

(I have also been using FreeTaxUSA for several years and have been very happy with them.)

[invadersil@mastodon.social]

@midnightspire @psychicparrot42 You bring me hope!

[hamishb@mstdn.ca]

@psychicparrot42 With today’s technology there’s no reason why the government couldn’t send everyone a return with everything they already know about you (it’s a lot) filled in so you just have to add what they don’t know.

But it would require a government which sees itself as a public service rather than a service for businesses.