Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit • Hacker News Board

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#71

Post by erik_seaberg » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

macspoofing wrote: post #59

>Many of the people eligible for CTC don't file tax returns There is a level of pragmatism that calls for better communication of programs and help with tax filings ... but ... as a citizen, you do have a responsibility to file tax returns. Why is it always hard to make the argument from both sides, namely: we should make tax filing as easy as possible AND the citizen has a responsibility to file their taxes regardle…

Before credits like this, filing wasn’t required and didn’t make sense for many people with low income: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2020_publink1000...

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#72

Post by grayhatter » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:29 PM UTC

vmception wrote: post #66

Tl;dr Intuit made a bad outreach website, so here’s a bunch of other stuff we don’t like about Intuit unrelated to the Child Tax Credit outreach

Well yeah, if you're trying to prove it wasn't a simple mistake from ignorance, you want to prove they have a pattern of making this mistake. That's when it turns from accidental to intentional malfeasance.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#73

Post by literallyaduck » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:30 PM UTC

callmeal wrote: post #55

literallyaduck wrote: post #46

I have a hardtime taking an article seriously that makes wild claims such as "But the IRS has been starved for decades by anti-tax extremists". Show me the evidence.

> https://www.atr.org/trump-budget-cuts-irs-funding-239-millio... President Donald Trump's 2018 budget blueprint is out, and it wisely cuts IRS funding by $239 million. Compared to pretty much any metric where increasing their budget will increase tax collection. Mainly because most tax fraud happens where no one is looking. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-shrink-defic... The number of IRS revenue age…

That doesn't show decades. The tone of the article sets up to divide readers.

IRS spends 11 billion, 300 million is barely a speed bump, is the money being spent correctly?

IRS has been used as a tool of intimidation and oppression to target political enemies of the ruling oligarchy.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/irs-scandal-fast-fac...

They have deep corruption, the tax code needs reform, and justice deferred is justice denied.

Gas lighting and blaming the victims of political intimidation is not acceptable.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#74

Post by lokar » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:31 PM UTC

I know Intuit has legislators at the federal level in their pockets, but I would think that in a place like California it would be harder. Has there been any progress to have simple automatic filing for state taxes?

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#75

Post by azinman2 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

Wavelets wrote: post #33

runawaybottle wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But listen to my argument, I’m willing to pay to have an easier time filing my taxes. I’m not going to use IRS’s tool if it doesn’t make it a painless process like TurboTax. So I ask again, will the IRS make a painless tool? If the answer is yes, but Intuit is lobbying them not to, then I understand your point. If it’s just about free vs non-free, I could care less. Filing taxes or filling out anything for the govern…

The problem isn't that the IRS won't make a painless tool. The issue is that Intuit actively works to make sure the tax code stays as complicated as possible. Ideally the tax code is so simple that complicated tools aren't necessary for your average filer.

It’s more than that: they stopped the potential practice of the IRS sending you a pre-filled out tax form with what they know that you could then just sign and accept, as is done is many other countries.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#76

Post by haltingproblem » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

I often help my friend who is also my accountant with his systems. He has to use various Intuit Pro Tax products. These are straight out of 90s boxed software land. Installing and using them in this day and age of polished software is like taking a step back into a timemachine especially when networking is involved. He pays thousands of dollars /year for these products and the technical issues with data sharing, networking, printing are just incredible.

Another thing that is jarring is the regard that Scott Cook, the founder of Intuit is held in the valley. He was apparently a mentor and coach to many founders Jobs? Page/Brin? and others. But the disconnect with his sterling image as a coach and leader and the general dark patterns/crappiness of Intuit products is something that is interesting.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#77

Post by birdyrooster » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

whoisjuan wrote: post #39

Already said in this thread, but I think it's ridiculous that when people think about abusive big tech, they never think about Intuit. Their business is literally the idea of creating friction in federal and local tax systems so they can extort people in exchange of removing some of those synthetic frictions (emphasis on "some"). A sinister business model in every possible way.

People need to stop calling companies “big tech” because every large cap company uses technology in a way that used to be exclusive to one tech industry.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#78

Post by dragonwriter » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:34 PM UTC

macspoofing wrote: post #59

>Many of the people eligible for CTC don't file tax returns There is a level of pragmatism that calls for better communication of programs and help with tax filings ... but ... as a citizen, you do have a responsibility to file tax returns. Why is it always hard to make the argument from both sides, namely: we should make tax filing as easy as possible AND the citizen has a responsibility to file their taxes regardle…

> But … as a citizen, you do have a responsibility to file tax returns.

No, this is not a general responsibility of citizenship.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#79

Post by jbluepolarbear » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:36 PM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #34

cmckn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure. The IRS needs to offer a tax preparation platform, the grift in this industry is astounding. I've always had decent experiences with TurboTax, but they've gotten extremely good at making your taxes hell if you want to avoid giving them $89.99.

This year we tried doing our taxes using both TurboTax and FreeTaxUSA. TurboTax has a much worse interface, it took almost twice as long to complete the taxes despite having an identical return. TurboTax did find about $50 more return for us somehow despite having entered the same information into both sites, but that amount is less than the fee TurboTax would charge so we ended up submitting through FreeTaxUSA inste…

I got totally screwed last year job wise. 2 of my employers have not reported my tax contributions to the state. I never received a W2 from one of them. TurboTax was able to find all my W2 from the HR companies, but I was unable to access those HR websites for my W2s. Because my contributions weren’t reported to the state I have to get all my W2 (luckily it was in my federal return) and resend them to the state. I hate TurboTax, but I wouldn’t have been able to file my taxes this year without them.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#80

Post by vlunkr » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:41 PM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #11

Intuit is a perfect example to me of the flawed reality in a libertarian ideology. We know they’re terrible, we know their products aren’t great… yet where are all the meaningful competitors? People who are at least meeting their bar if not substantially exceeding it? It’s not like this is a new industry that takes time to bake. Where are the YC startups trying to take them on? Meanwhile they continue to make live ex…

If you looks around other comments, people are suggesting alternatives. freetaxusa has my vote. Also I would bet that every town in the country with more than a couple thousand people has an office downtown where someone will file for you and probably charge less than H&R Block would. That doesn't cover all of their products, but certainly in the filing space they are not the only option.