TurboTax maker Intuit spent millions in record lobbying blitz amid threats to tax prep industry::undefined

  • notannpc@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Wouldn’t it be wild if the government just…sent us our refund or our bill? Because they know how much taxes we owe or how much they owe us without needing to play the stupid fucking “gather all your forms” and put it into the right fields game.

    That would also completely solve this problem by eliminating the need for turbo tax to exist at all.

    • hglman@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      For the very rich, its extremely hard to know what they own, filing taxes allows them to hide all the details.

        • hglman@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          You’re missing the forest for the trees. There are plenty of ways to encourage actions without coupling them to taxes. Make the tax code simple, and put the complexity in the systems that deal with people.

      • max@feddit.nl
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        9 months ago

        So your government could do what the commenter above suggested for 99% of the population. Got it.
        Because that’s what they do in my country. Your income is pre-filled, and most people don’t need to do anything other than double check it and click submit. If you want to get tax breaks for edge cases like uncovered medical care, extra schooling, travel costs as a freelancer, etc., you just follow the mostly easy steps and fill that in.

        • hglman@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          I want the rich to be taxed; the system is broken bc it allows for loopholes. 100% should just get a bill.

          • max@feddit.nl
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            9 months ago

            One doesn’t have to exclude the other. I sense the irony in saying this, being Dutch (whose country is considered a tax haven for the rich and corporations unfortunately), but we don’t have to pay for tax software at least. Worst case, you’ll pay for a tax advisor/accounted if you have a really complicated situation with shit like alimony and wish to squeeze every last cent from it.

    • Salix@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      Aren’t those all part of the Intuit lead coalition, the Free File Alliance, which kept lobbying against the IRS creating their own free tax filing tool among other issues?

      Note: Intuit and H&R Block left the coalition in 2021, after a no competition from IRS rule was lifted and the IRS announced making their own free tax filing tool.

  • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I don’t have a complex tax return but I’d rather pay an accountant to file my federal return for me than give these companies my business.

    Whenever I can efile my return without giving intuit, hr block or other mega corp my business, that will be a great day

    • edric@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Don’t know if they’re a mega corp, but FreeTaxUSA has been great for me. Free for simple federal tax returns.

  • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 months ago

    They’re scared. If it’s available, fill for free. Ask your representatives to increase the program. Let them burn through their money.

  • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    Intuit should try to create something new, as opposed to ride TurboTax for its revenues! They could make a banking app to replace what they did to Mint!

  • gastationsushi@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Tax payers aren’t the customers. Intuit is the customer here and they are buying income streams from politicians. It’s an artificial and unnecessary system.

  • asshole@r.nf
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    9 months ago

    I mean, considering inflation, I expect every year to be a record spending year.

  • Mango@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Wait. What’s wrong with TurboTax? It’s so easy. Why would anyone pay a human instead? Why would a human want to do any of this?

    • Furbag@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      TurboTax lobbys the US Government heavily to keep free alternatives from existing. At one point in time, the IRS was going to allow everyone to be able to report their taxes directly via their website and Intuit and the rest of the tax preparation software developers moved heaven and earth to kill the legislation that would have allowed it.

      So, to answer the question, there’s nothing wrong with TurboTax except for the fact that it’s run by a private company that charges you a fee for something that the federal government could operate for free. If you want to keep paying a 3rd party to send the IRS the information they already have, then the system works just fine.

      • Mango@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Oh wow, what the fuck? How can we have a straight government backed monopoly when we’re teaching kids in school that we’re specifically against that? Probably the same way I was compelled to plea guilty when we’re teaching kids in school that we’re specifically against that. It’s just theatre.

        • bamboo@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          What we do and what we tell our kids we do are often very different

          • Mango@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Timmy, me and your mother tried BDSM last night, so if she has a hard time talking, it’s because she couldn’t stop me from wrecking that throat!

    • sebinspace@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The point is that we shouldn’t have to do taxes ourselves in the first place. The IRS have the necessary numbers, they know what we owe or are owed. Intuit continuously lobby to keep the current system in place, while advertising itself as “convenient”, and it is, but only within the system they helped create and help maintain.