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How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

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Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#121

Post by foota »

xupybd wrote: post #97

I live in New Zealand. I don't have to file taxes if my income is a standard wage my tax payments are automatic. My employer deducts them from my wage and they are sent to the IRD (Our government tax dept). My student loan and super payments are also automatic. If there is anything wrong then at the end of the tax year I can file to correct things. I also get donations rebates, this is a one page form that lists all…

The United States has a complicated tax code because it attempts to make things more "fair" for some people. Some of these are things people like, such as deductions for people with children, paying mortage, etc. Some are more dubious.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#122

Post by lettergram »

cmurf wrote: post #114
JacobHenner wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it'd put accountants, lawyers, and firms like these out of work.

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form, which increases red tape, which requires a need for a free market service, the revenue from that service in turn goes to feed more lobbying for more red tape. This is basically collusion, using the worst aspects of the free mar…

> So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need?

Our current system is the opposite of a free market. You can think of paying your monthly rent payment, your banking, etc. as (mostly) free market.

You can think of taxes, DMV, healthcare, etc. as not free market.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#123

Post by harryh »

Intuit certainly does this, but blaming them for our overly complex taxes is wrong. They might move the needle a little bit but they aren't the primary driver. The primary driver is all the constituencies of all the little things in our taxes that add up to make them complicated.

Like ObamaCare? That came with two additional forms. Live in a high tax state and like deducting your state taxes? That makes things more complicated. Big fan of deductions to for education or child care? That comes with complexities. I could go on and on....

Now maybe your answer to all of these questions was "no", but there are a lot of people that say "yes" to a lot of these questions. It's really hard to upset that apple cart. Lobbying doesn't have much to do with it.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#124

Post by cmurf »

refurb wrote: post #73
caoilte wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doctors want you to be sick? - no. HMOs? - maybe. Lawyers want you in trouble with the law? - no. Prison Corporations? - definitely. People are generally good, corporations are evil by design.

HMOs? - maybe. Why would an HMO want you to be sick? They spend most of their time not covering medical claims. In fact, they'd make more money if you never used your insurance. And your claim that people are generally good makes no sense. Corporations don't make decisions, people do.

False. If people never used insurance, then they'd stop buying it, and the whole industry would collapse. The reason why the industry exists is it helps manage the alternative: fear of eating into savings, going into debt, or going bankrupt, just to get well again. Or worse, just giving up and dying.

The reality is, no insurance company insures known sick people unless compelled to with sufficiently large pools to redistribute wealth and risk. If a pool had only sick people, insurance is no longer insurance, it's a payment plan. What we in effect have now is one part insurance for totally unpredictable things, with one part payment plan for all the predictable doctor visits and scripts that people want to justify a monthly payment.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#125

Post by thwarted »

cmurf wrote: post #114
JacobHenner wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it'd put accountants, lawyers, and firms like these out of work.

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form, which increases red tape, which requires a need for a free market service, the revenue from that service in turn goes to feed more lobbying for more red tape. This is basically collusion, using the worst aspects of the free mar…

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form

Politicians protecting an industry through action or inaction, no matter if its lobbyists or others suggesting that they do, isn't the free market.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#126

Post by chillingeffect »

xupybd wrote: post #97

I live in New Zealand. I don't have to file taxes if my income is a standard wage my tax payments are automatic. My employer deducts them from my wage and they are sent to the IRD (Our government tax dept). My student loan and super payments are also automatic. If there is anything wrong then at the end of the tax year I can file to correct things. I also get donations rebates, this is a one page form that lists all…

U.s. govt uses tax code to incentive behaviors. We have 1040ez which is almost as simple as the NZ system if citizens don't want or have any deductions.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#127

Post by rhizome »

cmurf wrote: post #114
JacobHenner wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it'd put accountants, lawyers, and firms like these out of work.

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form, which increases red tape, which requires a need for a free market service, the revenue from that service in turn goes to feed more lobbying for more red tape. This is basically collusion, using the worst aspects of the free mar…

Why shouldn't they have to adapt to rapid changes in the "free" market like we do? Notice it wasn't called anything like the "dot-com gradual-and-not-too-painful realignment." Why the special consideration for tax people? I mean, if we're going to vaunt the free market, let's let it splash everybody, not just the little guys.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#128

Post by ceejayoz »

gst wrote: post #111
freehunter wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer, of course, is "it's not that secure". Now, Turbo Tax and H&R Block aren't being hacked, but breaking into their systems isn't the easy way. And like you said, attackers want to take the easy way. The easy way is to get just enough info from your targets as it takes to extract money from them. And in the past few years, e-filing fraud has skyrocketed. The mantra is "file your taxes before someone else does…

> The mantra is "file your taxes before someone else does", because the number of people who are submitting their tax form only to find out it's already been submitted is greater than ever before. The IRS is liable for losses due to fraud, so why would I care about fraud? It's up to the IRS to secure their systems.

> The IRS is liable for losses due to fraud, so why would I care about fraud?

Because, ultimately, you and I wind up paying for it.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#129

Post by bicknergseng »

thwarted wrote: post #125
cmurf wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form, which increases red tape, which requires a need for a free market service, the revenue from that service in turn goes to feed more lobbying for more red tape. This is basically collusion, using the worst aspects of the free mar…

So in other words, the free market has produced a pile of jobs that we don't really need? Lobbyists get paid money to get politicians to supply a deduction as a line item on some obscure form Politicians protecting an industry through action or inaction, no matter if its lobbyists or others suggesting that they do, isn't the free market.

Yah. We should make regulation for this kind of behavior.

Re: How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing (2013)

#130

Post by cmurf »

j2bax wrote: post #21
olegkikin wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doctors already have more patients than they can handle, that's why they work such crazy shifts.

I was under the impression that they worked crazy schedules so they could work 2-3 days and be off the other 4-5 days each week.

I have a family full of doctors and none of them have schedules anything even approximating that; it'd be 4 days with 10-12 shifts, one 1/2 day defined as at least 6 hours or possibly an open ended 8, and two days off. This idea of 4-5 days off in a row, or even per week is nonsense.
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