2013 TURBOTAX RETURN FREE

2013 TURBOTAX RETURN FREE

Supporters claim simple returns would free Americans from the frustration of filing complex taxes, saving $2 billion in processing costs and millions of hours in lost time.īut none of these efforts have succeeded so far.

President Obama advocated for IRS-prepared tax returns in 2007, and recent bills have been introduced which would significantly simplify tax filings, such as former Sen. Tax simplification has long been an overarching goal for politicians of both parties. Although this money is used to influence a variety of issues, many of the lobbying disclosures the groups have filed explicitly target tax simplification and pre-filled returns. And that's not all - high-powered advocacy groups that oppose tax reforms like return-free filing, such as Americans for Tax Reform (which favors scrapping the current progressive tax system for a flat tax) and the Coalition for Taxpayer Rights, have poured in millions more to lobby Congress. The vast majority of that spending - more than $20 million - came in just the past five years, according to data obtained from the Center for Responsive Politics. Since 1998, major tax preparers have spent almost $28 million lobbying Congress. Lo and behold: Companies that prepare taxes are throwing millions at Congress to oppose making tax filing easier. If so many people agree on the need for making taxes easier to figure out and file, how come it's not happening? The recent story that ProPublica's Liz Day did about how Intuit, the parent company behind TurboTax, has lobbied extensively against a so-called 'return-free filing' system inspired us to take a broader look at a sector that has a vested interest in keeping taxes complicated.

As Americans struggle through complex rules and messy paperwork to meet today's deadline for filing their income taxes, it might be somewhat comforting to know that making the whole arduous process simpler and more transparent has long been a goal of President Barack Obama as well as prominent Republicans in Congress - and that it's being discussed again this year.īut, as we all know, it's one thing to talk the talk and another thing to walk the walk.

2013 turbotax return