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TurboTax Conspiring To Keep You Hooked On TurboTax
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 14, 2014
Modified Apr 15, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Apr 14, 2014
Modified Apr 15, 2014
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Today is the last day you can pay $30 to have a stock image of a guy in a blazer tell you how much money you owe the federal and state governments. If you haven't already used TurboTax, you might want to reconsider, given that their parent company is part of a corporate conspiracy to ensure that you'll be forever trading what measly refund you get for the privilege of using their service, which the IRS could potentially offer you for free.
Last year ProPublica reported that Intuit, TurboTax's maker, had spent $11.5 million on federal lobbying from 2007-2012 to prevent "return-free filing" from being available in the U.S. The procedure allows the government to access your pertinent information and your W-2s to prepare a partially full tax return (something TurboTax offers for a fee) that the taxpayer then reviews and modifies. It could save taxpayers $2 billion and 225 million hours of prep, according to the procedures' advocates.
The Tax Policy Center even believes it would eliminate the need to file a final tax return for as many as 60 million taxpayers.
But that $2 billion in savings would eat into Intuit's bottom line, so recently the company has enlisted various PR firms to create an elaborate network of astroturf to shout down the proposal.
A rabbi, an NAACP member, and the mayor of a small town were all duped into believing that return-free filing would harm "the most vulnerable Americans." All were told by acquaintances or people they presumed to be trustworthy that they should publicly oppose the measure.
One letter-writer, Richard Smith, the president of the NAACP Delaware State Conference, was approached by a longtime acquaintance with information about how return-free filing would take dollars out of poor people's pockets. Smith felt so strongly he fired off a letter to Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., and encouraged other local NAACP leaders to do the same.
Smith said the acquaintance, Anne Farley, told him that if return-free filing was adopted, the government would stop offering free tax filing help to low-income communities. (In fact, none of the bills on return-free filing propose that.)
When ProPublica told Smith that Farley is also a registered lobbyist, he said he was now questioning the information she gave him.
"We may have to retract so far based on my research," Smith said. "I didn't question her."
You can e-file your federal taxes for free on the IRS website. If you're a New York resident and made less than $58,000 last year you can file for free here (you'll be directed to either H&R Block or TurboTax, but NYC is picking up the tab).
Tagged
irs
tax season
TurboTax
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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