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

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

#331

Post by pcnix »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #292
airstrike wrote: post #218

This IMHO is the biggest issue the U.S. faces today, simply due to the fact that so many secondary issues stem from how conflicted lawmaking is in this country. I don't know if it's the same way elsewhere. Maybe it is, and it just isn't as widely reported. But the fact remains that we know this to be an issue and we're not campaigning enough to solve it. The only other issue that I feel is as pervasive is the end of…

One might argue if this is related to scale. 'Everywhere else' is usually Can you imagine an EU level healthcare mandate? It'd be out of control impossible, and yet it works well enough a 'the state level'. It'd be nice to see some really forward thinking states lead the way and forge a path, if a few caught on and there were material examples of 'how it could be done' then maybe there'd be hope.

Well, India's trying, maybe take a look there?

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

#332

Post by gowld »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #260
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…

The perrenial misunderstanding about lobbying in the US is that it's about money. It's not. It's about access. The money spent by lobbying firms is almost always in pursuit of that access. AKA buying a $10,000 plate at this donor dinner gets you a sit down with the Senator. Not only do lobbyists get more accessible they get more credibility. The lobbyists are high paid lawyers at respected firms. They have degrees fr…

Paying for access is a bribe. What confuses people is that yes it really is incredibly cheap to bribe Congress and get crazy high ROI, because Intuit can get organized (it's already a corporation with management) afford $6Million in bribes but Americans for sane tax policy can't.

This is what "moneyed special interests" refers to.

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

#333

Post by j16sdiz »

tootie wrote: post #299
j16sdiz wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's in the referenced contracts. That statute states IRS should continue the program (67 Fed. Reg. 67247), "including any subsequent agreements and governing rules established pursuant thereto." In 67 Fed. Reg. 67247: "During the term of this Agreement, the IRS will not compete with the Consortium in providing free, on-line tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers."

Yeah, and unless the IRS has imminent plans to implement free tax filing this new clause has no real effect. It's not a constitutional amendment, if the IRS wants to offer this service in 5 years they'll probably need a huge multi-year appropriation and this clause to be revoked. Adding it in to this bill costs nothing and probably made the GOP reps willing to sign on.

Of course IRS can go back to congress and revoke this.. Yes, this this make the GOP reps willing to sign on.

The question is: why we want this bill? It is not giving any benefit.

That's what "ban the IRS from creating a free e-filing system" means.

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

#334

Post by linuxftw »

komali2 wrote: post #211
linuxftw wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most tax payers can't multiply two fractions. It could be as simple as filling in 3 fields on a form, they'll still march down to Jackson Hewitt and pay someone hundreds of dollars to do it for them.

Which, IMO, is a failure at the government level. Either make it so stupid easy a nearly illiterate child could do it, make it unnecessary (just have the IRS file for us), or massively improve the terrible state of the education system in the USA.

Or, just get rid of the income tax altogether as it's pretty draconian.

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

#335

Post by NamTaf »

This blows my mind. Here in AU, I can lodge mine online through a web portal. It's pre-filled with a variety of information including my reported taxable earnings (through company reporting), my superannuation information, my private health insurance (reported by those companies), any dividend payments made to me, etc. If any of the pre-filling is wrong (in my experience, it never is unless there's info it doesn't know about), I can correct it manually.

I basically only have to enter the deductions I wish to claim. Of course, if I earned money on the side that wasn't reported, I can self-report it too.

The only reason you'd pay for an accountant here is if you have complex tax affairs, or wish to save yourself time. Even when using one, you're ultimately responsible for the accuracy of your tax filing, and you're supposed to review the submission they draft.

I certainly believe that tax law should be understandable by the layman if all they're doing is a simple salaried employment, and by extension in all cases a person should be able to complete their tax requirements entirely on their own (even if that involves learning a large amount of tax law knowledge). There's something deeply unsettling to me about the concept of tax law being too obscure for the everyman to file themselves even in simple situations. Tax is a contract between the government and its citizens. The idea that a third-party private entity must be involved by law seems, to me, very opposed to the libertarian concepts that the US apparently holds dear.

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

#336

Post by jacobolus »

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…

It’s not really about making people more or less aware of what they are paying.

The point is to make filing taxes as time consuming and obnoxious (and therefore emotionally painful) as possible, ideally without the public connecting the dots and getting outraged.

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

#337

Post by csharpminor »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #260
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…

The perrenial misunderstanding about lobbying in the US is that it's about money. It's not. It's about access. The money spent by lobbying firms is almost always in pursuit of that access. AKA buying a $10,000 plate at this donor dinner gets you a sit down with the Senator. Not only do lobbyists get more accessible they get more credibility. The lobbyists are high paid lawyers at respected firms. They have degrees fr…

Reported donations also don't capture that lobbyists can threaten to contribute to an opposing campaign. A candidate receiving a $10k donation may also have received a $70k threat (in the form of a donation to an opponent) had they decided otherwise on an issue.

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

#338

Post by hobs »

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 republicans wanted to make a system where people would save the most money we'd just reduce the tax loopholes and simplify the system - the system we have now actually only has the wealthy pay the least money.

Some would say the republicans think this is a feature.

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