Intuit certainly does this, but blaming them for our overly complex taxes is wrong. They might move the needle a little bit but they aren't the primary driver. The primary driver is all the constituencies of all the little things in our taxes that add up to make them complicated.
Like ObamaCare? That came with two additional forms.
Live in a high tax state and like deducting your state taxes? That makes things more complicated.
Big fan of deductions to for education or child care? That comes with complexities.
I could go on and on....
Now maybe your answer to all of these questions was "no", but there are a lot of people that say "yes" to a lot of these questions. It's really hard to upset that apple cart. Lobbying doesn't have much to do with it.
That's not the point of the article at all, nor of Intuit's lobbying. Even with the current complexity of the tax code, the IRS could easily auto file your taxes for you if your income is below a certain very high level and you do not have any special complications. Such a system would work for 98% of Americans. This has nothing to do with what deductions are available or whatever complexity they introduce into the system. There is simply no reason whatsoever not to implement return-free filing, beyond the large dollar amounts tax industry lobbyists spend on the Hill.
> There is simply no reason whatsoever not to implement return-free filing, beyond the large dollar amounts tax industry lobbyists spend on the Hill.
It's not all Intuit lobbying. Many politicians of a particular faction oppose return free filing because they want to keep tax proxess as painful as possible to make people emotionally susceptible to anti-tax and, more generally, anti-government rhetoric.
> We are governed by people who don't believe in government.
This is more true now than ever. An EPA head that doesn't accept climate change, or believe in the EPA at all. A DOE head that wanted to eliminate a specific department that he heads, but can't quite remember what it is; an FCC head that wants to remove most FCC regulations (this is not as bad as the other examples, though), a SoE that doesn't believe in public education...
Intuit's lobbying isn't limited to opposing return-free filing. They also lobby to keep the tax code at a certain level of complexity that puts the most Americans in the sweet spot between too complex to feel comfortable using software and too simple to need software.
FWIW, the reason that Intuit believes that return-free filing is a bad idea is that they believe that you need someone who advocates for the biggest refund/smallest tax bill and the government isn't in a position to be that advocate since its revenues depend on tax collection. I don't generally agree and this sort of lobbying was the one area in which I questioned Intuit's "Integrity Without Compromise" core value during my time working there, albeit not on TurboTax. However, I did meet many people that did work on TurboTax and they all believed this strongly.
As the Sinclair quote goes, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
Intuit has a $3b/yr interest in thinking that return-free filing is a bad idea. I think this country would be better off if people didn't have to spend that money and the inordinate time commitment that filing taxes currently consumes. And I think that Intuit not believing this is a rationalization of the need to protect that revenue stream.
As someone who was employed by a company that was acquired by Intuit, I've been very conflicted about my own good fortune being connected with Intuit's activities in this area. About 6 months ago, I decided to divest all my Intuit stock, not because I felt it wouldn't perform well, but because I don't want to be making money off what I see as unethical behavior. Intuit is, in most respects, a very ethical company. But in this one area, I don't think they are.
Like ObamaCare? That came with two additional forms. Live in a high tax state and like deducting your state taxes? That makes things more complicated. Big fan of deductions to for education or child care? That comes with complexities. I could go on and on....
Now maybe your answer to all of these questions was "no", but there are a lot of people that say "yes" to a lot of these questions. It's really hard to upset that apple cart. Lobbying doesn't have much to do with it.