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FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

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Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#11

Post by quantified »

MathMonkeyMan wrote: post #7
coloneltcb wrote: post #3

Intuit is an embarrassment of a tech company. Instead of innovating in software, they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex and in creating new and innovative dark patterns to obscure their (federally mandated, btw) free product.

Free government-provided tax calculators and online filing are an existential threat to Intuit. I think that the business should not exist (or should be scaled down to a fraction of its size, as an accountant's tool), but can you blame them for trying to block the deathblow?

Sure. How much don't you blame the rat whose claws are embedded in your hand as you try to throw it in the river?

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#12

Post by jjulius »

pcurve wrote: post #6
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not a tech company. They are a regulatory capture company that uses tech to extract from the general public what should be free. The code and platform are the performance art to enable the rake. Edit: Meant to scope this comment solely to TurboTax. Replies correcting me are well deserved.

I think most people would be shocked to learn how big intuit is in terms of market cap. Bigger than Verizon wellsfargo ibm nike

For those unaware, Intuit owns...

TurboTax

Mint

QuickBooks

Credit Karma

MailChimp

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#14

Post by jjulius »

slg wrote: post #10
coloneltcb wrote: post #3

Intuit is an embarrassment of a tech company. Instead of innovating in software, they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex and in creating new and innovative dark patterns to obscure their (federally mandated, btw) free product.

>they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex I always feel the need to point out that anger at this is misplaced. Intuit is a business lobbying on behalf of itself like countless other businesses do. If the result makes you upset, you should be upset at our political system and the politicians who are willing to sell out the country for whatever those lobbyists are pushing. It is those pol…

We can be upset at politicians for "selling out" to the lobbyists.

We can be upset at lobbyists for pushing things that they know aren't in the best interests of consumers.

We can be upset at businesses for wanting to take advantage of consumers for their own gain.

All of these can be true at the same time.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#15

Post by MBCook »

bsimpson wrote: post #4

> This decision is the result of a biased and broken system where the Commission serves as accuser, judge, jury, and then appellate judge all in the same case Interesting argument, but also a distraction from "we lied in advertising." > It could also clearly disclose the percentage of customers that actually do qualify for the free service, somewhere close to the “free” claim advertised, the commission said. They ran…

Bills game too. I noticed it because I thought they were already banned.

It was much more clear it wasn’t free for everyone than the old “free free free free” ads, but still heavily emphasized the free part.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#16

Post by colordrops »

WesternWind wrote: post #8
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are not a tech company. They are a regulatory capture company that uses tech to extract from the general public what should be free. The code and platform are the performance art to enable the rake. Edit: Meant to scope this comment solely to TurboTax. Replies correcting me are well deserved.

No, they are a tech company, they produce software for their main product. Like a lot of companies, tech and not, they use their power and resources to keep their position. The difference is that their actual competitor is the government. But that's also a big part of why private healthcare is way too expensive in the US, for worse results than other places.

It's a game of semantics. The other commenter's meaning is that a "tech company" would produce valuable tech that wouldn't otherwise exist. Intuit uses tech to do the opposite. McDonalds uses tech too, but they aren't a tech company.

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#18

Post by avalys »

jjulius wrote: post #14
slg wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex I always feel the need to point out that anger at this is misplaced. Intuit is a business lobbying on behalf of itself like countless other businesses do. If the result makes you upset, you should be upset at our political system and the politicians who are willing to sell out the country for whatever those lobbyists are pushing. It is those pol…

We can be upset at politicians for "selling out" to the lobbyists. We can be upset at lobbyists for pushing things that they know aren't in the best interests of consumers. We can be upset at businesses for wanting to take advantage of consumers for their own gain. All of these can be true at the same time.

Do you get upset at criminal defense lawyers who defend people who are obviously guilty (i.e. by getting clear and convincing evidence disqualified because of a procedural error?)

Or, would you say something like "The outcomes are not perfect but that's how the system works and stays as fair as possible for everyone"?

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#19

Post by [deleted] »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #5
coloneltcb wrote: post #3

Intuit is an embarrassment of a tech company. Instead of innovating in software, they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex and in creating new and innovative dark patterns to obscure their (federally mandated, btw) free product.

They are not a tech company. They are a regulatory capture company that uses tech to extract from the general public what should be free. The code and platform are the performance art to enable the rake. Edit: Meant to scope this comment solely to TurboTax. Replies correcting me are well deserved.

[deleted]

Re: FTC bans TurboTax from advertising 'free' services, calls deceptive advertising

#20

Post by nshelly »

coloneltcb wrote: post #3

Intuit is an embarrassment of a tech company. Instead of innovating in software, they've invested infinitely more in lobbying to keep tax-filing complex and in creating new and innovative dark patterns to obscure their (federally mandated, btw) free product.

Intuit also produces Quickbooks -- which actually is SMB accounting software, and used internationally.

As most of their revenue is from businesses who wouldn't easily be able to free-file, I wouldn't be surprised if Intuit's lobbying to prevent a free tax filing offering from the government was causing them more harm than good.

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