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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

#321

Post by mrhappyunhappy »

indemnity wrote: post #227

Meanwhile, in my little country (NZ), as a regular salaried worker, I only had to interact with the IRD in the years that I had a few side gigs in addition to my regular employment. Most years I don't interact with them at all. Don't even have to file. I guess in the USA they are worried the IRS will get it wrong, so on the chance they will, everyone has to follow really complicated processes, even if their tax affai…

You see, the tax code is incredibly complicated but for the vast majority it’s rather straight forward. Predatory services like tax preparation feed on the fear and insecurities of average Americans by pitching taxes as some difficult task. In reality, one only needs a handful of pages to get their taxes completed and sent in. This process would be even easier if the IRS did it for you, but politics is not a career of public service, but one to reap maximum personal benefit. We have no laws barring public servants working for the same industries that put them into office so there is a massive conflict of interest, and nobody to do anything about it. The power is not in people’s hands and never has been.

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

#323

Post by wirerc »

It's really a problem for other businesses even more so than consumers. Productivity is probably halved while everyone is thinking and talking about taxes for several weeks. It's all I hear at work. I am surprised there is no business SuperPAC to fight against this.

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

#325

Post by Alupis »

chrisseaton wrote: post #289
Alupis wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do that in the UK and they cost less than the prices I see online for US tax software... and he does whatever he needs to do to fill things in. Really? For less than $29?

TurboxTax is showing like $250 for someone with a house, a job, shares, expenses, etc. Not sure how anyone of this works so maybe I'm wrong.

The website price is rarely what someone pays in reality. Typically you buy it one year, at a store for some special price, and every year they mail you a CD with special reduced pricing to renew.

I paid $39 this year for H&R Block Deluxe, which took care of everything you listed above. Includes 5 e-files too, so you can share it with friends/family.

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

#326

Post by gowld »

Dig1t wrote: post #317
Calloggs wrote: post #298

Planet Money covered tax filing a few years ago and visited it again recently: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor... My understanding is that the main opposition appears to be (1) the tax preparation lobby to protect their business interests and (2) anti-tax activists that believe that making people calculate their own taxes will make them more aware of how much they are paying in taxes. The…

Yes, you're right that people in that camp are unlikely to review their tax filings from their 3rd party. However there is an incentive for that 3rd part tax company to save their customer as much as they possibly can. The bigger the refund, the happier the customer and the more likely they are to come back next year and give you more money. In the Planet Money episode they spoke with the Republican dude and his bigg…

If complicated taxes are a Republican anti-tax strategy, why did Reagan and the 1980s republicans pursue a strategy of vastly simplifying the tax code?

Doing taxes is a tax -- in hours and fees. Only the wealthiest people who can spend $10K on tax prep to save $100K via loophole deductions, oh.

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

#327

Post by maxerickson »

Dig1t wrote: post #303
mattferderer wrote: post #265

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 se…

This is definitely a nuanced issue, and some people in this thread are being alarmist. Another legitimate issue that many people cite is that by creating a system whereby people can just click a button to pay their taxes is that it can cause people to pay more taxes in general by not fighting for every deduction that they can. People are complacent, and if they are told by the government that they owe some dollar fig…

Get rid of most deductions that aren't easily reported by third parties.

Problem solved.

(The recent tax bill went a long way in this direction by increasing the standard deduction)

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

#329

Post by sanderjd »

Dig1t wrote: post #317
Calloggs wrote: post #298

Planet Money covered tax filing a few years ago and visited it again recently: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor... My understanding is that the main opposition appears to be (1) the tax preparation lobby to protect their business interests and (2) anti-tax activists that believe that making people calculate their own taxes will make them more aware of how much they are paying in taxes. The…

Yes, you're right that people in that camp are unlikely to review their tax filings from their 3rd party. However there is an incentive for that 3rd part tax company to save their customer as much as they possibly can. The bigger the refund, the happier the customer and the more likely they are to come back next year and give you more money. In the Planet Money episode they spoke with the Republican dude and his bigg…

Except the tax preparation industry must be taking a significant enough cut to make it lucrative to spend money lobbying. Is that cut smaller than the total extra tax that would be paid due to mistakes in the auto filing system? I'm skeptical.
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