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H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

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Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#21

Post by John23832 »

M_Grey wrote: post #13
John23832 wrote: post #4

It's never wrong for businesses to lobby for their interests. It's wrong when our elected officials bend to those business interest when it goes against the public interest.

I'm sorry, but no. A business can have interests that are obviously and deeply evil, such as in a very extreme example, the production of Zyclon B for the Nazis. It is a myth that earning money somehow insulates you from being scum, and if you're acting against the interests of literally everyone except yourself and at their direct expense, you might be scum. If you're saying that's right, I'd argue the point strenuo…

Even scum have the right to lobby for their interest...

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#22

Post by John23832 »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #12
John23832 wrote: post #4

It's never wrong for businesses to lobby for their interests. It's wrong when our elected officials bend to those business interest when it goes against the public interest.

Why is it not wrong? These corporations are throwing around money to subvert the public interest. Surely corporations have some level of duty to the public which allows them to exist.

We elect our politicians to do what's best for the people. Yell at your politicians, hold them accountable for being a corporate shill.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#23

Post by M_Grey »

John23832 wrote: post #21
M_Grey wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but no. A business can have interests that are obviously and deeply evil, such as in a very extreme example, the production of Zyclon B for the Nazis. It is a myth that earning money somehow insulates you from being scum, and if you're acting against the interests of literally everyone except yourself and at their direct expense, you might be scum. If you're saying that's right, I'd argue the point strenuo…

Even scum have the right to lobby for their interest...

Even IG Farben did?

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#25

Post by dang »

M_Grey wrote: post #15
roesl027 wrote: post #3

In this alternative solution, the government does your taxes, so instead of paying a company/accountant to do it, our taxes / the deficit will pay for it. Someone has to do the work, and if it's not these companies, it will be the IRS. I'd be in favor of simplifying the tax code so everyone could file their own return with confidence!

Edited by poster to conform with rules When you consider that your argument seems to be that we should ignore the efficiencies of scale and the removal of a pointless profit margin, because it won't be absolutely free.

Insinuations of shillage without evidence are not allowed here, so please don't do this. Someone expressing an opposing view does not count as evidence.

https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&prefix=false&page=0&date...

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#26

Post by John23832 »

M_Grey wrote: post #23
John23832 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even scum have the right to lobby for their interest...

Even IG Farben did?

That's strawman, IG Farben was a company in Nazi Germany, which had different laws and different rights.

If you want a better example, yes, Haliburton, GSK, and Koch, all have the right to lobby in their best interests (at least in the US).

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#27

Post by gdulli »

yellow_postit wrote: post #5
roesl027 wrote: post #3

In this alternative solution, the government does your taxes, so instead of paying a company/accountant to do it, our taxes / the deficit will pay for it. Someone has to do the work, and if it's not these companies, it will be the IRS. I'd be in favor of simplifying the tax code so everyone could file their own return with confidence!

I think this is a false equivalence. The IRS is already "doing taxes" for most people when they get their paystub and investment data electronically sent by those institutions and using that to compare against the self-willed returns. If anything for many individuals (not self-employed, minimal investments, basic mortgage) this plan would reduce overhead.

In theory, the goal of the government is to maximize your amount of tax paid while the goal of professional tax preparation is to minimize it. (In order to compete with other services.)

In practice, I don't know whether there ends up being a net benefit to taxpayers or not in the current setup.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#28

Post by mikeash »

John23832 wrote: post #19
mikeash wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely disagree. It's absolutely wrong for a business to lobby for their interests when it harms others. This is little different from dumping toxic waste into the local reservoir. That would be wrong even if it were legal. Obviously, a lot of business don't really care about right and wrong, and so they'll still do it. But we can condemn it.

I never said we can't condemn the behavior of businesses. The prime objective for a business is to make money. All the ethics, right/wrongs, etc are things that we expect from the people who run those businesses. But the business is there to make money. It is up to the people in charge of making choices for society to make the right choices. It's not the responsibility of the business. They have every right to lobby…

How can we condemn something that's "never wrong"?

They have no right to lobby for anything they want. They may have the legal right to do so, but it's still wrong in some cases.

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#29

Post by M_Grey »

John23832 wrote: post #26
M_Grey wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even IG Farben did?

That's strawman, IG Farben was a company in Nazi Germany, which had different laws and different rights. If you want a better example, yes, Haliburton, GSK, and Koch, all have the right to lobby in their best interests (at least in the US).

...And Enron, and Goldman, and all of the companies that tanked us in 2008. Right? Where is this right spelled out exactly, except in the fiction that corporations are people without the responsibilities?

Re: H&R Block and Intuit Are Lobbying Against Making Tax Filling Free and Easy

#30

Post by koolba »

> But the legislation would also permanently bar the IRS from offering its own free alternative.

Why should we as citizens of this great country be forced to give up the right to form a public option? Not quite 1:1 but the analogies to health care do come to mind.

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