How does something like this happening not make people immediately realize that the Republican party is not working for the people anymore? I don't think Dems are doing a bang up job, but this is something developed and deployed, 100% working, that only helps the American people navigate a complicated tax system. The only reason to get rid of it is to hurt the American people.
The people who need to see it needs to see it in the entertainment hour of Fox News. I don't think Fox News would be disseminating this information at that hour
So you believe it was done just to hurt the American people?
No, that’s not plausible.
The article suggests Trump wanted to help tax software companies, but that overlooks the fact that Trumps previous increase to the standard deduction greatly simplified taxes for many filers. So that’s probably not it, either.
Trump is hell bent on raising taxes via tariffs, so it doesn’t seem likely that personal income taxes are a big part of whatever he’s planning.
Personally, I wish the government would start sending a bill, not putting the onus on the filer to make the calculation. That seems most sensible to me.
Is it not in the governments interest to implement the cheapest, best system to enable all citizens to easily pay taxes? The IRS knows basic taxes better than anyone so certainly they are the most equipped to handle this program instead of the private sector?
FYI, there are/were two systems. "Direct File" is probably the more complex and integrates directly with 25 participating states. The other is "Free File" and only covers some payers.
It's incredible how little interest these ghouls have in the concept of "public good." Things like the conserving the environment or public health or even something as simple as free tax filing, are just seen as aisles for scoring ideological points or maximizing the interests of profit seeking entities.
The only silver lining to this is that since the direct file code is open source, forks have already sprung up.
What I would love to see is one of these forks gain prominence and become the “Debian” of tax filing while TurboTax and HR block are the “Windows” and “MacOS” of the tax filing world
Granted I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that this is a tall tall order and finding consistent maintainers will be a huge challenge. But who knows maybe this will piss off just the right billionaire to make them dump a few dollars into a dev team that can build FreeFile
Most Americans don’t know of Grover Norquist, but he’s probably the most influential conservative activist on tax policy. He had a pledge that, at some point, almost all Republican congresspeople signed.
The way taxes work in the U.S. is bass ackwards. They have all the info. I should be the I.R.S. where they submit a completed form to me for me to audit. I decide to sign it or not and go on with my life for another year. The state taxes are even worse (albeit, that may just be ny's problem).
CPB, Direct File, BLS head all in one day. Lots to sweep under the rug this Friday afternoon. We're spending more for this service incineration. Literally. Tr*mp has increased spending despite all these cuts.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 38.1 ms ] threadIt's all about "owning the libs" by any means necessary. Nothing more, nothing less.
No, that’s not plausible.
The article suggests Trump wanted to help tax software companies, but that overlooks the fact that Trumps previous increase to the standard deduction greatly simplified taxes for many filers. So that’s probably not it, either.
Trump is hell bent on raising taxes via tariffs, so it doesn’t seem likely that personal income taxes are a big part of whatever he’s planning.
Personally, I wish the government would start sending a bill, not putting the onus on the filer to make the calculation. That seems most sensible to me.
https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-direct-file-for-free
https://www.irs.gov/filing/irs-free-file-do-your-taxes-for-f...
What I would love to see is one of these forks gain prominence and become the “Debian” of tax filing while TurboTax and HR block are the “Windows” and “MacOS” of the tax filing world
Granted I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that this is a tall tall order and finding consistent maintainers will be a huge challenge. But who knows maybe this will piss off just the right billionaire to make them dump a few dollars into a dev team that can build FreeFile
HTTPS request to www.irs.gov times out.
Great government we got here :(