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A comment on IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants. Parent comment

Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by AnthonyMouse on Monday May 15, 2023 @04:14PM (#35953883)
Then give them something they want, like have the IRS send everyone a summary just exactly how much in taxes they actually pay. Let people know the "refund" they get is not money from the government but rather money the government took from them several months ago and is only getting around to giving back now. Make a clear comparison between the amount they're getting back and the amount the government kept, which for most ordinary people is thousands of dollars a year.

Assuming the problem is actually ideological opposition from Republicans, and not campaign funding, because then it would be bipartisan:

https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/intuit-inc/summary?id=D0000...

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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by astrange on Monday May 15, 2023 @07:40PM (#35956023)
Corporations can't donate to campaigns. Anyone using this to make a point is lying.

That page shows who employees of the companies have donated to.

(And the politicians aren't actually "bought" by it. It's more like they already agreed, and maybe they're being paid to stay politicians instead of getting a better paying less annoying private sector job.)

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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by AnthonyMouse on Thursday May 18, 2023 @05:01AM (#35985582)
Employees of corporations donating to campaigns when the dissolution of that company's business model would affect their employment is pretty much the highest degree of alignment you're going to see between corporations and their employees.

And corporations can't donate to "campaigns" but they can perfectly well donate to PACs aligned with campaigns.

> And the politicians aren't actually "bought" by it. It's more like they already agreed, and maybe they're being paid to stay politicians instead of getting a better paying less annoying private sector job.

But nobody said they were bought. It's not corruption if it's legal, right?

The problem is the systemic bias it introduces. Politicians need to raise money to stay in office, so they have to appease whoever has money. So politicians who appease special interests have an electoral advantage, win more elections and constitute a majority of the legislature.

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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by firstlink on Monday May 15, 2023 @08:25PM (#35956368)
A clear accounting of what you have already paid is on your 1040, copied in from your W-2. People are ignorant of it because they want to be.
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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by AnthonyMouse on Thursday May 18, 2023 @04:51AM (#35985494)
That's the thing you don't read or understand because it's part of the multi-page document full of arbitrary number boxes that you're paying TurboTax to handle for you, isn't it?

How about a simple form which shows those numbers in large typeface and nothing else?

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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by firstlink on Thursday May 18, 2023 @03:33PM (#35992930)
Oh yes, adding a form will definitely help people pay attention.
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Re:IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with ta... by AnthonyMouse on Thursday May 18, 2023 @03:41PM (#35993041)
The claim was that the complicated form is necessary to help people pay attention so Republicans would object to getting rid of it. Why wouldn't they prefer a simpler form that shows exactly what they want people to pay attention to?
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