Right but we were talking about an irs free file which would not make state returns free either.

California taxes are free when done from their site, which has been working fine for ~15 years. And it was late then considering much of the birth of the internet and web happened there.

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/ways-to-file/online/calfile/inde...

No excuse justifies the current situation.

I’d take my states 2% tax rate over free file. But this is way off topic as the discussion was about the irs.

The free part isn't particularly important, as the price is built-in. It is that it's centralized. Paying the organization directly with no potentially malicious actors brokering the transaction. (Also, low income tax states typically have higher taxes in other areas to compensate.)