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A good example of corruption: income tax prep services bribe government to keep taxes complex


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2022 Feb 15, 10:35am   190 views  4 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/tax-returns-complicated-lobbying-intuit-hr-block/?source=patrick.net


You might ask: what’s stopping the United States from adopting this system? After all, the IRS already has the vast majority of taxpayers’ information on file. The agency’s duties could easily be expanded to simply sending most Americans a refund or a bill, depending on their income and taxes already paid.

There’s a simple explanation: tax prep companies such as H&R Block and Intuit spend millions of dollars each year lobbying Congress to keep the current system in place. And they have good reason to do so: according to IBISWorld, tax prep services is an $11 billion industry in the US. No wonder both firms were able to afford lucrative $6.5 million ad slots during this weekend’s Super Bowl broadcast.




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1   WookieMan   2022 Feb 15, 5:03pm  

Who in the flying fuck needs help with their taxes? I've had some pretty complex tax situations in the past. Never have been audited and never will be outside of an error on the IRS end. I used one of the major services one time and that was it, never again. When you ask a basic question and they don't know the answer, fucking run.

It's your money, learn what the hell is going on. Don't let someone else deal with it. Recipe for disaster. And never assume someone else will reduce your tax burden. Take 3 hours and learn it yourself. Almost all "accountants" at H&R Block type services are stay at home mom types that literally have no clue what they're doing. They're just hoping you walk in with a W-2 and 1098 and call it a day.
2   clambo   2022 Feb 15, 9:14pm  

It’s true.
Once upon a time the government was going to create software for us to use for free, but was discouraged.

Accounting companies make a fortune preparing tax returns; my father paid thousands of dollars to UHY in NYC to do this every year. I did them for him after I began to help him with his financial things at age 93.

Life insurance companies (Buffet) are against the repeal of estate (death) tax, since people buy life insurance to save money on the death tax.

Many people have a financial interest in our paying to prepare and avoid taxes, so they want to keep them complex.

It’s immoral that the law is so complex that most people feel they must pay others to help them comply.
The tax code should be simple and easy to understand.
4   Blue   2022 May 13, 9:07am  

Everyone knows when you go throughout software, there’s so much junk that law makers can get rid off and simplify.

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