Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit • Hacker News Board

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#91

Post by burnished » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:51 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #10

I wish people in the US would stop blaming specific bad actors in a system for acting in their own best interest and start blaming the system that empowers them. ExxonMobil and Intuit lobby the government in their own best interest just like FAANG companies and basically everyone else that has the size to do it. That is how our system is designed. It isn't Intuit's fault this works, but since it does work, they would…

So just.. leave the bad actors out of the narrative?

It feels like if one does that, then you come back and say "but who is doing [bad thing]? where is the evidence?". You can't just leave the people causing the problem out, as if it were some how rude to name the people pissing in the pool.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#92

Post by PascLeRasc » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:52 PM UTC

lvspiff wrote: post #15

dhosek wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around 2009 my taxes grew complicated enough that I could no longer do them by hand and had to start using tax software for them. I've consistently refused to use TurboTax because the company is so evil. H&R Block is not necessarily a more ethical company, but at the very least, there's not more unethical. (And I'm vaguely aware of there being some open-source tax software of some sort out there, but when I looked it…

does H&R Block handle investments and cost basis year over year information? That's the only tripping point im finding with whatever product I look to in comparison to Turbotax. Once your tax situation starts down that path I'm noticing getting a product that can pull from multiple investment accounts and keep track of cost basis correctly really narrows it down to Turbotax so far for me.

Yeah, it did for me. But I only used it to make sure it matched Credit Karma tax and filed through there.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#93

Post by tantalor » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:53 PM UTC

IMTDb wrote: post #85

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.

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.

> It's not even "tech"

Intuit most certainly is a tech company. They make web and desktop software. This semantic argument is a distraction.

https://jobs.intuit.com/search-jobs/

> If computers and internet were not a thing

Cool counterfactual. Not relevant in this discussion.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#94

Post by thatguy0900 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:54 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #83

thatguy0900 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Unfortunately that seems to be the case. Outside of a few changing hot button topics they have basically free reign,and 99.99% of people will never hear about their actions.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#95

Post by vfclists » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

If the article is right the people most affected by this don't read Hacker News or pluralistic.net for that matter.

The readers on Hacker News are also less likely to follow up the issue with their representatives.

So why don't the authors find a way to directly target the most affected people and get them to complain to their representatives?

PS. Why do some people tend to blame corporations for the corrupt behaviour of their congressmen and senators? If lawmakers are corrupt they should be the ones who should be targeted.

Companies are simply doing what they can do within the law to gain an advantage. They deal in "legality" not "morality".

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#96

Post by conanbatt » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:58 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.

The monopoly is the government though, not Intuit...There is no way you can argue that Intuit has monopoly power over government!

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#97

Post by slumdev » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #93

IMTDb wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> It's not even "tech" Intuit most certainly is a tech company. They make web and desktop software. This semantic argument is a distraction. https://jobs.intuit.com/search-jobs/ > If computers and internet were not a thing Cool counterfactual. Not relevant in this discussion.

Doesn't a company have to be at least slightly sexy to be called "tech"?

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#98

Post by mumblemumble » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 7:01 PM UTC

slumdev wrote: post #97

tantalor wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not even "tech" Intuit most certainly is a tech company. They make web and desktop software. This semantic argument is a distraction. https://jobs.intuit.com/search-jobs/ > If computers and internet were not a thing Cool counterfactual. Not relevant in this discussion.

Doesn't a company have to be at least slightly sexy to be called "tech"?

I was firmly on the side of "Intuit is a tech company", and then I read this comment, and then I had a hearty chuckle, and now I think I may be on the side of "Inuit is not a tech company."

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#99

Post by MarkusWandel » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 7:04 PM UTC

We had the completely free "click here for a default tax return" situation here in Canada, at least in Ontario.

As of last year (in my case) finally the tax authority had all the information slips you need to file already in their database.

The freely usable tax software (Studio Tax) was able to download and autofill them to generate a valid (as far as the government knows) tax return that could then be e-filed.

The only thing that changed was that the donation-based model of Studio Tax wasn't enough, so now you have to pay CAD $15 per installation (not per return) in order to actually file - but you can still try it out and see what your refund will be before you pay.

It would still be better if the government had all this on a website, but $15 per household is not the end of the world and won't ever fund consumer hostile political lobbying.

Re: Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit

#100

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 7:04 PM UTC

UncleMeat wrote: post #67

throwawayboise wrote: post #27

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).

The last time I got a quote from a local accounting firm it was for $3,000. My tax situation is more complex than most but the difference between $150 for some paid software and an accounting firm is a lot . And the people working at the budget firms are basically just using TurboTax-equivalent software anyway.

[deleted]