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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

#221

Post by John23832 »

cheriot wrote: post #189
John23832 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you going to do, put a business in jail? Hold the people who have made you promises and then failed to follow through responsible. Aka, your politicians. They are your backstop. What makes Goldman, GSK, Haliburton, or any of the other shady, scummy businesses out there responsible to you? They are responsible to the law on the books. Our politicians are supposed to prevent business from screwing our society.…

Everyone in a society has an obligation to that society. America seems to be forgetting this. A business doesn't change the obligations of the individuals so put the individuals in prison if needed. Did someone sign off on dumping toxic waste or robbing people's savings? Would have been illegal if a person did it without getting a paycheck? Why does a paycheck change anything? Let them answer for their actions. Stop…

> Everyone in a society has an obligation to that society.

You're right, every person does.

> A business doesn't change the obligations of the individuals so put the individuals in prison if needed. Did someone sign off on dumping toxic waste or robbing people's savings? Would have been illegal if a person did it without getting a paycheck? Why does a paycheck change anything? Let them answer for their actions.

What are you trying to say here? That we should hold people/businesses legally responsible? No one is arguing against that.

> Stop expecting politicians to be perfect.

I expect politicians to do their job.

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

#222

Post by John23832 »

jungturk wrote: post #155
John23832 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you going to do, put a business in jail? Hold the people who have made you promises and then failed to follow through responsible. Aka, your politicians. They are your backstop. What makes Goldman, GSK, Haliburton, or any of the other shady, scummy businesses out there responsible to you? They are responsible to the law on the books. Our politicians are supposed to prevent business from screwing our society.…

The charter granted to the business can contain clauses requiring the business to attend to more than just its own returns. The state or the people grant that charter to the business, with the benefits its confers regarding liability and taxation, so we could decide to do so only if the business commits to the terms. There's no inalienable right to incorporation in the US constitution - the corporation is a statutory…

That charter turns a moral responsibility into a legal one. No one is arguing against holding businesses legally accountable.

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

#223

Post by odbol_ »

berberous wrote: post #131
naftaliharris wrote: post #121

I'm surprised the article and comments haven't mentioned CreditKarma's tax solution yet, which is (actually) free. [1] Presumably their strategy is to take the users and data they get from offering free tax filing and use them to advertise lending products. I think that's a sustainable and politically feasible way to get free tax filing, actually; I expect that in ~5 years Credit Karma will have eaten a big part of T…

I have not used CreditKarma's tax product, but I've heard folks say that it calculates some things incorrectly. I think that's understandable for a brand new product, but I'd be cautious about using it this year if you don't (1) have a very simple return, (2) check their work against the IRS forms/instructions and/or (3) check against another product. (For those who don't want to give TurboTax or H&R money, I've been…

So does TurboTax. Every time I've used that product, the IRS actually sent me a letter back saying "you calculated your taxes wrong, here's some extra money we owe you."

Never had that problem when using TaxAct, and I usually got a bigger refund too.

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

#224

Post by pzone »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #152
arebop wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would gladly match my tax prep fee with a donation to the counter-lobby, if one existed. Where can I buy tax-complexity-offsets?

I work for the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy think tank. As a 501(c)3 we're not allowed to lobby, but we do work hard to show legislators the benefits of taxes that are simple, transparent, neutral, and stable. https://taxfoundation.org/principles/

Thank you for the work you do. I disagree with the principle of neutrality because I support Pigouvian taxation. But we could use a lot more of the other three.

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

#225

Post by jakelazaroff »

John23832 wrote: post #220
jakelazaroff wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't guilt trip a business. Sure we can. We can complain to them, boycott them, post stories on HN so other people know they're unethical, etc. > We can however expect ethics/morality from politicians because they are people. Businesses are just groups of people. A business behaves ethically only if the people who make it up behave ethically. We don't lose the ability to criticize them just because they're acti…

> Sure we can. We can complain to them, boycott them, post stories on HN so other people know they're unethical, etc. Sure, we could do that, but unless any of those things affect profit, the business won't change. Morality doesn't motivate business, profit/money does. > Businesses are just groups of people. A business behaves ethically only if the people who make it up behave ethically. We don't lose the ability to…

All your arguments boil down to:

> Morality doesn't motivate business, profit/money does.

…which has literally nothing to do with the ethics of Intuit's and H&R Block's lobbying.

They are knowingly doing a thing that will hurt people. That's wrong. Full stop.

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

#226

Post by thewhitetulip »

jandrese wrote: post #179
thewhitetulip wrote: post #145

Every time I read that Intuit is lobbying against making Tax filing free and easy, I feel immensely grateful that Indian tax filing is simple and free. Yes, we might lack in 24x7 electricity or the first world infrastructure, but our tax filing mechanism is simple! I hope that the US makes this change to their tax process.

People in India pay their taxes? That's news to me.

If you believe them, 1-3% people pay taxes and I'm one of them!

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

#227

Post by S3curityPlu5 »

Good luck there is already hundreds of companies that offer free e filing, This is a losing proposition for them, competition has kept this free and there is no reason to use either H&R Block or Intuit. There is also no reason to pay a tax preparer or accountant to do your taxes, since you can easily do it yourself. I can understand for companies, and very wealthy people with tons of stocks, bonds, and IRAs etc. Then pay someone, but for the normal person who just works one job and doesn't do much trading or investing, then go onto the irs web site and choose one of the hundreds of free efile companies each year, they often have a limit of 62,000 anyway in gross income, so it's harder to find a free file if you make more money. They are going to try but this is a state by state issue.

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

#228

Post by mason55 »

ams6110 wrote: post #212
snarfy wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You cannot itemize a 1040.

True, you need the full 1040 return for that, but most people don't have enough deductions to itemize -- that was my point. The average tax return is a 1040A or 1040EZ with the standard deduction. Those are easy.

> but most people don't have enough deductions to itemize

FWIW, $100k in NYC puts your state + city taxes well over the standard deduction.

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

#229

Post by S3curityPlu5 »

S3curityPlu5 wrote: post #227

Good luck there is already hundreds of companies that offer free e filing, This is a losing proposition for them, competition has kept this free and there is no reason to use either H&R Block or Intuit. There is also no reason to pay a tax preparer or accountant to do your taxes, since you can easily do it yourself. I can understand for companies, and very wealthy people with tons of stocks, bonds, and IRAs etc. Then…

I used taxslayer the last time I free filed, but I thought that I remember being more than only 13 companies. I don't want the government to fill anything in for me, however, because there's no way that they know everything about my deductions and credits and all the loopholes that many people want to use, if you just work a 9 to 5 job for one company then that sounds ok. I say keep it how it is now, and they've been lobbying for years, they probably think that they have a chance now because the Republican party is all about helping the private sector and having a small government.
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