#eitc

No one has to use this system, of course. If you have complex finances, or cash income that doesn’t show up in mandatory reporting, or if you’d just prefer to prepare your own return or pay an accountant to do so for you, you can. But for the majority of people, those with income from a job or a pension, and predictable deductions, say, from caring for minor children, filing your annual tax return takes between zero and five minutes and costs absolutely nothing.

Not so in America. America is one of the very few rich countries (including Canada, though this is changing), where the government won’t just send you a form containing all the information it already has, ready to file. As is common in complex societies, America has a complex tax code (further complexified by deliberate obfuscation by billionaires and their lickspittle Congressjerks, who deliberately perforate the tax code with loopholes for the ultra-rich):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/11/the-canada-variant/#shitty-man-of-history-theory

That complexity means that most of us can’t figure out how to file our own taxes, at least not without committing scarce hours out of the only life we will ever have to poring over the ramified and obscure maze of tax-law.

Why doesn’t the IRS just send you a tax-return? Well, because the tax-prep industry — an oligopoly dominated by a handful of massive, ultra-profitable firms — bribes Congress (that is, “lobbies”) to prohibit this. They are aided in this endeavor by swivel-eyed lunatic anti-tax obsessives, like Grover Nordquist and Americans for Tax Reform, who argue that paying taxes should be as difficult and painful as possible in order to foment opposition to taxation itself.

The tax-prep industry is dominated by a single firm, Intuit, who took over tax-prep through its anticompetitive acquisition of TurboTax, itself a chimera of multiple companies gobbled up in a decades-long merger orgy. Inuit is a freaky company. For decades, its defining CEO Brad Smith ran the company as a cult of personality organized around his trite sayings, like “Do whatever makes your heart beat fastest,” stenciled on t-shirts worn by employees. Other employees donned Brad Smith masks for selfies with their Beloved Leader.

Smith’s cult also spent decades lobbying to keep the IRS from offering a free filing service. Instead, Intuit joined a cartel that offered a “Free File” service to some low- and medium-income Americans:

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free

But the cartel sabotaged Free File from the start. They blocked search engines from indexing their Free File services, then bought Google ads for “free file” that directed searchers to soundalike programs (“Free Filing,” etc) that hit them for hundreds of dollars in tax-prep fees. They also funneled users to versions of Free File they were ineligible for, a fact that was only revealed after the user spent hours painstaking entering their financial information, whereupon they would be told that they could either start over or pay hundreds of dollars to finish filing with a commercial product.

Intuit also pioneered the use of binding arbitration waivers that stripped its victims of the right to sue the company after it defrauded them. This tactic blew up in Intuit’s face after its victims banded together to mass-file thousands of arbitration claims, sending the company to court to argue that binding arbitration wasn’t enforceable after all:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/24/uber-for-arbitration/#nibbled-to-death-by-ducks

But justice eventually caught up with Intuit. After a series of stinging exposes by Propublica journalists Justin Elliot, Paul Kiel and others, NY Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of AGs from all 50 states and DC that extracted a $141m settlement for 4.4 million Americans who had been tricked into paying for Turbotax services they were entitled to get for free:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/turbotax-to-begin-payouts-after-it-cheated-customers-new-york-ag-says/ar-AA1aNXfi

Fines are one thing, but the only way to comprehensively end the predatory tax-prep scam is to bring the USA kicking and screaming into the 20th century, when most of the rest of the world brought in free tax-prep for ordinary income earners. That’s just what’s happening: the IRS is trialing a free tax prep service for next year’s tax season:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/15/irs-free-file/

This, despite Intuit’s all-out blitz attack on Congress and the IRS to keep free tax-prep from ever reaching the American people:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/20/turbotaxed/#counter-intuit

That charm offensive didn’t stop the IRS from releasing a banger of a report that made it clear that free tax-prep was the most efficient, humane and cost-effective way to manage an advanced tax-system (something the rest of the world has known for decades):

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5788.pdf

Of course, Intuit is furious, as in spitting feathers. Rick Heineman, Intuit’s spokesprofiteer, told KQED that “A direct-to-IRS e-file system is wholly redundant and is nothing more than a solution in search of a problem. That solution will unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars and especially harm the most vulnerable Americans.”

https://www.kqed.org/news/11949746/the-irs-is-building-its-own-online-tax-filing-system-tax-prep-companies-arent-happy

Despite Upton Sinclair’s advice that “it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it,” I will now attempt to try to explain to Heineman why he is unfuckingbelievably, eye-wateringly wrong.

“e-file…is wholly redundant”: Well, no, Rick, it’s not redundant, because there is no existing Free File system except for the one your corrupt employer made and hid “in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’”

“nothing more than a solution in search of a problem”: The problem this solves is that Americans have to pay Intuit billions to pay their taxes. It’s a tax on paying taxes. That is a problem.

“unnecessarily cost taxpayers billions of dollars”: No, it will save taxpayers the billions of dollars (they pay you).

“harm the most vulnerable Americans”: Here is an area where Heineman can speak with authority, because few companies have more experience harming vulnerable Americans.

Take the Child Tax Credit. This is the most successful social program in living memory, a single initiative that did more to lift American children out of poverty than any other since the days of the Great Society. It turns out that giving poor people money makes them less poor, which is weird, because neoliberal economists have spent decades assuring us that this is not the case:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

But the Child Tax Credit has been systematically sabotaged, by Intuit lobbyists, who successfully added layer after layer of red tape — needless complexity that makes it nearly impossible to claim the credit without expert help — from the likes of Intuit:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/29/three-times-is-enemy-action/#ctc

It worked. As Ryan Cooper writes in The American Prospect: “between 13 and 22 percent of EITC benefits are gulped down by tax prep companies”:

https://prospect.org/economy/2023-05-17-irs-takes-welcome-step-20th-century/

So yes, I will defer to Rick Heineman and his employer Intuit on the subject of “harming the most vulnerable Americans.” After all, they’re the experts. National champions, even.

Now I want to address the peply guys who are vibrating with excitement to tell me about their 1099 income, the cash money they get from their lemonade stand, the weird flow of krugerrands their relatives in South African FedEx to them twice a year, etc, that means that free file won’t work for them because the IRS doesn’t actually understand their finances.

That’s a hard problem, all right. Luckily, there is a very simple answer for this: use a tax-prep service.

Actually, it’s not a hard problem. Just use a tax-prep service. That’s it. No one is going to force you to use the IRS’s free e-file. All you need to do to avoid the socialist nightmare of (checks notes) living with less red-tape is: continue to do exactly what you’re already doing.

Same goes for those of you who have a beloved family accountant you’ve used since the Eisenhower administration. All you need to do to continue to enjoy the advice of that trusted advisor is…nothing. That’s it. Simply don’t change anything.

One final note, addressing the people who are worried that the IRS will cheat innocent taxpayers by not giving them all the benefits they’re entitled to. Allow me here to simply tap the sign that says “between 13 and 22 percent of EITC benefits are gulped down by tax prep companies.” In other words, when you fret about taxpayers being ripped off, you’re thinking of Intuit, not the IRS. Just calm down. Why not try using fluoridated toothpaste? You’ll feel better, and I promise I won’t tell your friends at the Gadsen Flag appreciation society.

Your secret is safe with me.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/17/free-as-in-freefile/#tell-me-something-i-dont-know

You cannot deny that you missed her in all those years, before and after her death. It may have made you accept your stepmother too much. The motherly closeness that you have always lacked was given to you and you can also see how well it did your father. Despite all the love, none of you could forget your mother. Neither your father nor your two brothers. So, it became a tradition that you still celebrate her birthday extravagantly in the family.

“Y / N!” Is what you hear behind you when you have just grabbed a glass. You turn around and smile at your stepmother. “Do you already know Mister Wellfried?” The young man smiles uncertainly at you. Even to you it looked too green behind the ears. "Mister Wellfried." You greet him with a curtsey. "I have to look after Anthony, talk to you." The older woman exclaims and let’s go of the arm of the man she was pulling on him.

Silently you try to look for a break out of the uncomfortable silence between you. “I saw you keep your eye on Miss Brook. I allow you to go and speak to her instead of mine. I think that's in both of our interests, isn't it?” You honestly suggest and look at the flirtatious redhead.

"What?" Wellfried was overwhelmed with the reaction. It was unusual for a woman to give such advice with such confidence. So, it was she who needs a man. That's what they say.

"Go ahead. Before Miss Brook changes her mind.” He tightens his chest, nods and started off.

Just as you find your way to your father. With the glass in both hands, you stand a little to one side and listen to the conversation. "India?" It slips out and now your father turns to you too. "Y / N." You step closer as he reaches out his hand to you. "Gentlemen. That's Y / N, my oldest daughter.” Even if you nod every time, you introduce the men, take a close look at each of the individual faces.

“Would you like to contribute to the discussion?” Your father asks you, knowing that he will be happy to do so when you burst into it. It should either be a lesson not to do it or to give you adequate guidance. "Oh. Not really. My enthusiasm was probably too great. You can read so much about India thanks to the French and Portuguese. The Animals and nature. Resources. The tigers are said to be majestically beautiful and dangerous. It is certainly a good move to secure the trade routes and supremacy there.” You smile at everyone and give only a little. You should appear well-read, inquisitive, but not too brash. Most men didn't want that. A woman who could offer such a watchword.

"Shall we bring you one of these dangerously beautiful tigers when we return?" Came one of the men. Cutler Beckett, as she remembered. "I would prefer the tiger to stay in its homeland, Mister Beckett." You answer and hold his gaze. The rest of the words stay in your head.

“Where is your mother?” Asks your father next to you. “Sure, looking for a match for me to marry. Shouldn't Anthony marry first? "You respond." Anthony goes to sea. He was recruited into the Navy." You nod sympathetically.

“Why didn't I become a boy? I can't even begin to avoid this monotonous structure. No adventures on the high seas that await me. Stories of old sailors and the burning pleasure of alcohol in my throat.” You sigh. “Do you remember the day you took me on the ship? The feeling of the sun drying the drops of water on my face and leaving the sea salt behind. That was the best day of my life. "

Your father is smiling. "Mh." He also fondly remembers it. Even then he noticed that your spirit was made for sailing. "My child, port side." You look to the left. Your mother stood there and waves you over to her. “You should correct the hole in the torso. Before your chances of continuing your journey soon sink into the sea.” A smile crosses your face.

“I think I have to save my frigate before it collides with something.” “You mean, if we promise you to someone?” He asks. You look at him. "I would call that mutiny." You sigh. “In the end we all sail too windward and leeward.” And you're on your way to damage control.

"Your daughter is ..." Beckett begins and steps up next to your father. They both watch you go. “Weird?” “Interesting. Most women have no knowledge of sailing and the sea and yet throw them around with knowledgeable words. Like saying the sky is blue.” Your father looks at Beckett. “She's always been interested in things like that. I fear the presence of three men and without maternal guidance shaped them. "

Later in the evening you stand on the wooden floor of the terrace. Your gaze goes out into the night. If you looked closely, you could see the black outlines of the ships in the harbor.

"If you are planning to escape by ship from your mother's attempts at mediation, I would advise against taking the frigate." You turn to the voice. Beckett.

"Which ship do you advise me on then?"

"Do you prefer speed or should it be agile?" - "Both, if possible"

Beckett smiled. "You are not satisfied with one thing," he stated. You lift your shoulders. "Why not?"

“Let me guess marriage for diplomatic or business reasons, is it negative about you? You want, if then everything. Love.” He advises and comes up to you. You turn to the night again. “What is so wrong with wanting to marry for love?” “It would be sheer luck. But you are right, as a man it is probably easier to escape this torment. "

“Just like you when you travel to India and expand the East India Trading Company further.” You counter him and assume that he does not want to marry.

"Love is for fools." He looks at the stars. Soon he would be sailing to these. "Then I'm probably the greatest fool to hope for." Your gaze also goes to the clear starry sky.

For a few minutes you are silent next to each other and it was not an uncomfortable silence.

“When are you going to India?” You ask. “As soon as the ships are ready.” Your father had come to an agreement with Beckett. Both work for the crown, for the East India Trading Company. But your father had planned to be less on ships. He now provides these to a younger, eager seaman. Because of the business relationship, Beckett should be visiting now one time or another.

_________________________________________________

This Fanfic shouldn't as long as "Dragonfire". :) Well it is the plan. We will see.