IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

Post by craftinator » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:10 PM UTC

jacurtis wrote: post #214

jxramos wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing people misunderstand with the government not being able to figure it out is because there's a huge variety of complexity that is truly individual based. Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year? There's a ton of variables going on here, where the government doesn't have this all-seeing system where everything g…

I do agree, that ultimately there are several deductions that can reduce the taxes you owe in a given year. But most americans don't have enough of these deductions to make a significant difference. So the ideal solution would be that the IRS sends you a letter in January that basically says "You made $XX,XXX this year, you are in YYY tax bracket, and thus you owe $ZZ,ZZZ money". So if they sent that in January, then…

Post by nicoburns » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:12 PM UTC

danschumann wrote: post #173

alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

I think are more steelman'ed version of the GOP argument is: when government does things badly, they can go VERY VERY badly. It's a risk viewpoint. Whereas the progressive viewpoint letting government do more and more things. The other risk is bloat. Once a government program exists, it is very very hard to stop it and get the funds back ( from a political perspective ). It's unpopular to fire people. When government…

Post by lazyasciiart » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:13 PM UTC

floatingatoll wrote: post #199

jxramos wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing people misunderstand with the government not being able to figure it out is because there's a huge variety of complexity that is truly individual based. Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year? There's a ton of variables going on here, where the government doesn't have this all-seeing system where everything g…

> Did you make a contribution to a tax deductible IRA? Did you make a retroactive payment to that account in the following tax calendar year? For these specific two examples, the IRS need only introduce monthly reporting requirements for all tax-affecting investments, at which point they once again have sufficient data to do your taxes for you. They already have your SSN, so there’s no excuse not to have integrated r…

Post by zchrykng » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:13 PM UTC

jorblumesea wrote: post #200

briandear wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sabotaging democracy? You mean like attempting to overturn a presidential election?

I mean, Gerrymandering, voter suppression... Hard to believe they're acting in any democratic fashion. Btw, impeachment is a well documented power of the legislative branch.

Post by friedman23 » Tue, Dec 31, 2019, 9:14 PM UTC

danschumann wrote: post #173

alistairSH wrote: post #67

In the US, we've had decades of (largely GOP) messaging that the government can't do anything properly. A substantial portion of the population believes it. As noted in a sibling comment, the IRS could pre-fill forms that would be correct for the vast majority of tax payers (who take the standard deduction/don't itemize, have a single job, and no other edge cases). These people should not be paying TurboTax either wa…

I think are more steelman'ed version of the GOP argument is: when government does things badly, they can go VERY VERY badly. It's a risk viewpoint. Whereas the progressive viewpoint letting government do more and more things. The other risk is bloat. Once a government program exists, it is very very hard to stop it and get the funds back ( from a political perspective ). It's unpopular to fire people. When government…