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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