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Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

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81–90 of 332 posts

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#81

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.

except it reads more like "I could have made that website, grrr I didn't apply for the government contract (or I lost the bid)!"

It could read that and say "by the way Intuit has a history of poor performance"

it doesn't really say they sabotaged it. when I read that headline, I think that their flagship software is miscalculating it. But thats not what this article is about at all.

The article is about how a tax credit has always failed to address the needs of those eligible for the tax credit, and Intuit has only made a small dent in that in a contract that hoped it would make a bigger dent.

People can still have gotten that tax credit for free before, can get it for free after, can use Intuit's poorly crafted free system, or not. They can also use Intuit's paid systems the whole time. The article then points out that Intuit always crafts circumstances to make their paid system the desired path.

The Child Tax Credit is fine, its the people you are worried about.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#82

Yet another case where letting the free market handle things results in bad outcomes.

Lobbying has nothing to do with free market.

That's a weird thing to say considering how lobbying is justified: As the free expression of speech by companies towards their elected representatives. So is limiting corporate speech necessary for a free market? Most free-market backers I've heard would say otherwise.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citizens voted these people in, the blames lies with the electorate.

The citizens cannot police the federal electorate. At best, they can police local politicians and maybe a few big ticket federal items. They have too much going on in their own lives to police federal politicians passing hundred page bills every week.

I don’t know what to tell you. A small minority of politicians can prevent progress, and there is little recourse for the rest of us. The buck has to stop somewhere.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#84

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…

> 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. Exactly this, yes. It's well documented all over the place, but here are a couple of examples: https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre... https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2013/04/02/it... In any case, thanks to the folks in this thread suggesti…

Square acquired Credit Karma's Tax business, probably folding it into CashApp

[1] https://squareup.com/us/en/press/credit-karma-tax

[2] https://www.pymnts.com/news/partnerships-acquisitions/2020/c...

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#85

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.

Intuit is not "big tech". It's not even "tech". If computers and internet were not a thing, Intuit would work mostly the same way - their business is scraping money between citizen and the sate, and lobbying politician into keeping a broken system. That's not tech in any way.

Other "big tech" companies would not even exist.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At that point why not engage an accounting firm? Yes it would probably cost more, but you're supporting your local economy and have a human being to discuss any questions with (as well as be responsible for any mistakes).

There's still a big jump in cost between, for example TurboTax Premier tier ($90 federal + $50 state = $140) and a CPA (where I've been quoted $400-$600). I don't think the level of service justifies the cost. I tried a professional once in my life, and he basically just asked me all the same questions the software would have asked me, and typed them in to his system for me. 3X-4X the cost for the services of a typis…

A CPA takes a risk doing your taxes. They are responsible if something goes wrong. That is probably $400 an hour. If you are paying less than that make sure it’s actually a CPA doing your taxes. There may be a CPA at the firm, but unless they sign and do your taxes you aren’t protected by their liability.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#87

Yet another case where letting the free market handle things results in bad outcomes.

Lobbying has nothing to do with free market.

This kind of lobbying is just paid free speech driven by market incentives.

So, yes, having a society-critical service provided by a for-profit market actor, that then uses that money to pay for speech that results in a worse situation for everyone is a market failure.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#88

Given how much H&R Block and Intuit have unethically and corruptly leeched from the government and the taxpayers directly, I think the should literally be nationalized and have their tax software platforms absorbed into the IRS. Their company activities over the last few decades are so flagrantly, indisputably bad for the country. There's literally no upside, none at all. They have intentionally sabotaged tax filing…

> should literally be nationalized Political note: calls for nationalisation, in American politics, is a gift to the other side. It lets one paint the opposition as extremists without grounding in U.S. Constitutional law or the economic history of countries that regularly expropriate property. I get the impulse. But literally any other phrasing—massive fines, criminal prosecution, open-licensing requirements, et cete…

> Political note: calls for nationalisation, in American politics, is a gift to the other side.

Perhaps you should rephrase this as "calls for nationalization run counter to my own free-market ideology" rather than a) assuming you know what everybody else thinks, and b) suggesting that conventional wisdom should dictate the bounds of acceptable discourse.

Not to mention, plenty of countries — the US included — have successfully nationalized companies and entire industries.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#90
post #63

>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…

Most every other country has the government send a tax sheet to you. If you disagree you go to appeal. If you do nothing your done. So much easier.

While I agree that that would be nice, I'm not sure that this is really as common as you say it is. Do you have examples?
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