You’ve already seen the ads, or will soon. They promise to make filing taxes a breeze, save you money, and get you your maximum deductions while speeding your refund. Sure, nobody likes the Internal Revenue Service because who likes paying out money through a complicated process with possible penalties if you get it wrong? Getting all the forms together, making calculations, searching for receipts…
Well, it may not surprise you to learn you’re likely being ripped off — but it’s not the fault of the government exactly. Elsewhere in the civilized world, they manage to make it relatively painless and quick and FREE — and people are happy with it. Did you know there is supposedly a FREE online tax portal to make paying taxes easy — like other countries have? So what’s the problem in America?
Johnny Harris has teamed up with Binyamin Appelbaum at The NY Times to produce a video explaining how literally decades of promises by politicians to make paying taxes fast, easy, and FREE has been converted into a cash cow for private gain worth billions through outright fraud and extensive lobbying by a particular company. Yeah — Intuit and TurboTax.
Harris and Appelbaum show how it works here, how it works elsewhere in the world, where the problems are, how the scam started, and how we are still being ripped off on a massive scale despite reform efforts. If this doesn't make you angry, well….
SEE THE NY TIMES VIDEO AT THIS LINK
If you want more background on this, Pro Publica has been covering this story for years.
- Here’s a page of links to reports going back to 2013.
- Here’s a 2023 report on how Intuit claims making tax filings free will hurt Black taxpayers.
- Here’s a January 23, 2024 report on the FTC ordering Intuit to cease deceptive advertising.
Bonus— Robert Reich talks about how we are being lied to about the I.R.S. Republicans are demanding cuts to the I.R.S. budget, claiming Biden administration funding to bring the agency up to speed will unleash a horde of ‘tax police’ who will audit ordinary Americans without mercy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The I.R.S. has been underfunded and understaffed for decades. This means poor service and crippled ability to fairly enforce the tax code. Increased funding has already speeded turn-around on tax inquires and made it possible to have people available to answer phone calls and reduce waiting on hold. Robert Reich details what else increased funding makes possible. From 2023: