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Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

propublica.org

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Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#261

Post by JudgeWapner »

ahoy wrote: post #230
chrisseaton wrote: post #221

> The Ways and Means chair, Neal, received $16,000 in contributions from the two companies in the last two election cycles, according to the ProPublica report. When companies make contributions like this, why don't politicians just take the money and then do whatever they want anyway? The companies have no recourse to complain or get the money back do they? How does this work?

House Representatives have 2 year terms. If you'd like to hold onto that job for longer than 2 years, you have to campaign again, which means raising money again. Do you think TurboTax is going to keep investing in a congressperson who isn't doing what they want?

in a perfect world, the congressman would turn the tables and say "you either contribute to my campaign, or else I, along with 20 other senators, will vote for a tax against your industry in particular".

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#262

Post by dgacmu »

chillacy wrote: post #231
danielhughes wrote: post #226

I've often read headlines noting that the tax-prep lobby spends huge sums to preserve the status quo. But the numbers quoted in the article as evidence don't appear to support that claim. $6.6m seems low relative to these figures https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2018&inde... * *I can't vouch for this site or its data Relevant quote from the Tech Crunch article: "One reason why folks Congress could b…

$16k to sell out? Don't these people raise millions?

Big donors are a high return-on-time for busy politicians. I donated the max (2*$2700) to a few candidates during the previous midterm elections, and was (naively) surprised to be invited to have brief 1:1 meetings with each of them. Money speaks depressingly loudly in politics. Corporations have to go through PACs, but many have their own (Intuit has their "21st Century Leadership Fund" PAC, which you can view here:

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00361741...

Not all candidates accept PAC funds, but enough do.

It's disheartening.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#263

Post by PhantomGremlin »

mykowebhn wrote: post #233
PhantomGremlin wrote: post #222

I think this is a great idea. The risk of the IRS totally screwing up is just too high. And having an outside contractor do it is potentially even worse. E.g. the State of Oregon contracted with Oracle to create a health insurance marketplace. $200 million dollars later there was nothing but lawsuits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Oregon Let that sink in. Two hundred million dollars and they couldn't get a fuck…

Yes, but if the US tax code weren't so darn complicated wouldn't that reduce the chances of the IRS totally screwing up? I just finished my taxes and filing taxes in the US is such a s tshow. But where do we start? We want to simplify filing, but that might depend on simplifying the tax code, which might be orders of magnitude more difficult. Sigh!

that might depend on simplifying the tax code, which might be orders of magnitude more difficult

Actually, it would be trivial to simplify the tax code. It couldn't be done overnight, it might take a long weekend. All you have to do is come up with a very simple tax scheme with no complexities and no loopholes. Why couldn't a simple tax system be contained in a 10 page law?

At first make it optional for anyone to switch to the new scheme. After a few years, start a 20 year phaseout of the old system. Tell the holdouts that, first year of phaseout, they must pay 5% of the tax required by the new system and continue to pay 95% of the amount calculated by the old rules. After 10 years it becomes 50%/50%. After 20 years the old system is gone completely. Holdouts can switch completely to new system at any time, but once you switch you can never go back to the old system.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#264

Post by jonathankoren »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #177
jonathankoren wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pen. Seriously. I used TurboTax this year, and honestly I was underwhelmed, especially when it came to the state forms. It didn’t really seem like it did much, and the California form experience were full of obvious bugs. Questions with no context. (“Enter city 2”) Questions being given out of order. PDFs being viewed through a mail slot. PDF forms where the entry blanks and the entries would scroll at different…

I'm thinking about self-filing this year. Although, I'm really running down to the wire. It's basically as easy as filing out a W2 if you're a full-time salaried employee with no deductions, right?

It is literally 1040-EZ.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#265

Post by mattferderer »

If I read this right, you can still use the free service the IRS provides if you make less than $66,000.

Has anyone used Turbo Tax or H&R "free" versions to file? I can't use them & last time I tried they charged you to submit your taxes electronically but otherwise it was simple & easy.

I also know many cities offer services to help people file simple taxes for free.

I believe this bill also states the IRS cannot send debt collectors after people making less than $66,000.

This bill may not be as bad as it looks. I don't expect the IRS to make software for complicated taxes as that's a very difficult challenge. I question if it's necessary to bar it, but I'm guessing that was to keep their deal with the Free File software.

Either way it would be nice to see representatives state their position & reasoning behind this bill. It seems it has wide support across the aisle which is rare these days.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#266

Post by peteretep »

beachy wrote: post #257
peteretep wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does anyone seriously believe that the IRS would do better? It’s interesting to see the same arguments resurface as they do for healthcare. Most non-Americans here live in countries where salaried employees have almost zero contact with the country’s ex agency. No returns, no filing, it all just magically happens behind the scenes. So it’s kinda weird to hear Americans say “that’s impossible! How can you trust gove…

American tax is significantly more complex than other countries - I would guess more than any other country - due to challenges such as county + state + federal taxes and interactions between them. Source: worked on a payroll system that had to be heavily rearchitected when we tried to deploy it in the US.

> American tax is significantly more complex than other countries

Yes

> such as county + state + federal

Plenty of countries with this, aren’t there? Germany, Australia, Switzerland, etc?

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#267

Post by samstave »

ahoy wrote: post #230
chrisseaton wrote: post #221

> The Ways and Means chair, Neal, received $16,000 in contributions from the two companies in the last two election cycles, according to the ProPublica report. When companies make contributions like this, why don't politicians just take the money and then do whatever they want anyway? The companies have no recourse to complain or get the money back do they? How does this work?

House Representatives have 2 year terms. If you'd like to hold onto that job for longer than 2 years, you have to campaign again, which means raising money again. Do you think TurboTax is going to keep investing in a congressperson who isn't doing what they want?

This is why congress should be a conscripted service.

With a limit of two terms.... should only be able to vote to keep a certain person in office, but all persons in office should be selected just like jury duty.

Want to know how fucking retarded the world is. Do this. but at least it will diminish corruption from the likes of Pelosy and others who spend DECADES in their positions...

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#268

Post by rootusrootus »

erichurkman wrote: post #237
PhantomGremlin wrote: post #222

I think this is a great idea. The risk of the IRS totally screwing up is just too high. And having an outside contractor do it is potentially even worse. E.g. the State of Oregon contracted with Oracle to create a health insurance marketplace. $200 million dollars later there was nothing but lawsuits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Oregon Let that sink in. Two hundred million dollars and they couldn't get a fuck…

The IRS already does your taxes based on the information they already have. Ever had the IRS helpfully "correct" your filed taxes and send you more money or send you a bill? You can dispute it, but in the multiple times it has happened to me, they were right, and refunded or charged me sometimes modest sometimes small amounts. They could've just done that and saved me the $$ spent on Intuit (do it yourself) or accoun…

Yup, once every so often we get a letter from the IRS about a discrepancy. Every time, they are correct.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#269

Post by selimthegrim »

PhantomGremlin wrote: post #222

I think this is a great idea. The risk of the IRS totally screwing up is just too high. And having an outside contractor do it is potentially even worse. E.g. the State of Oregon contracted with Oracle to create a health insurance marketplace. $200 million dollars later there was nothing but lawsuits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Oregon Let that sink in. Two hundred million dollars and they couldn't get a fuck…

Considering Oracle was pulling any liberal arts graduate with a pulse off the street to manage the programmers, I believe it.

Re: Congress Is About to Ban the US Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

#270

Post by rayiner »

danielhughes wrote: post #226

I've often read headlines noting that the tax-prep lobby spends huge sums to preserve the status quo. But the numbers quoted in the article as evidence don't appear to support that claim. $6.6m seems low relative to these figures https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=2018&inde... * *I can't vouch for this site or its data Relevant quote from the Tech Crunch article: "One reason why folks Congress could b…

> Neal, received $16,000 in contributions from the two companies in the last two election cycles[.]

This statement is false. If you look at Open Secrets, $16,000 lines up exactly with what H&R Block and Intuit employees donated to Neal in 2016 and 2018. H&R Block and Intuit have tens of thousands of employees--it's not surprising that many donated to a Democrat with a high-ranking committee position.

Fun fact: By the article's parlance "Google" gave more to Neal in 2018 than Intuit. Gasp--Google must be in on the tax filing scam too!

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