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Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America's Taxpayers -- The American Prospect
https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-17-intuit-turbotax-wins-battle-against-taxpayers-irs-direct-file/Daniel Boguslaw
The successful IRS free tax filing program is being wound down, thanks in large part to Intuit’s copious spending in Washington.
For nearly three decades, a cold war has raged through the halls of Congress and in high-end shellfish restaurants perched precariously on Washington, D.C.’s southern coast. The battle lines have shifted between successive administrations, sometimes tilting toward proletariat victory, and sometimes cutting fast toward total surrender to corporate America.
This month, thanks to the whims of the president and hefty sums of cash, Donald Trump has amended an old axiom to guarantee that nothing in life is certain but death, and paying money to file your taxes.
According to a report by the Associated Press this week, the IRS is moving to shut down its free tax filing program known as Direct File, with employees working on the program told to stall work on future iterations. The news comes after Intuit, the maker of TurboTax and the biggest player in tax preparation software, spent years tirelessly fighting any attempt by the government to bring the nightmarish American system of tax collection into line with European nations that have streamlined most citizens’ filing process down to the click of a button.
. . .
“Despite Treasury Secretary Bessent’s promise to keep Direct File going through the 2025 tax filing season, the long-term future of the program continues to be threatened, in no small part due to Intuit’s lobbying,” Warren wrote. “Intuit has spent nearly $4 million in 2023 and again in 2024 attempting to kill the program. During the 2024 election cycle, Intuit joined other commercial tax preparation companies to make large donations to Republican congressmembers who later worked to eliminate Direct File.”
Yet after tens of millions in lobbying, hundreds of millions in lawsuits, and a cool million for Trump’s inauguration, it seems that Intuit’s ceaseless spending has paid off.
This month, thanks to the whims of the president and hefty sums of cash, Donald Trump has amended an old axiom to guarantee that nothing in life is certain but death, and paying money to file your taxes.
According to a report by the Associated Press this week, the IRS is moving to shut down its free tax filing program known as Direct File, with employees working on the program told to stall work on future iterations. The news comes after Intuit, the maker of TurboTax and the biggest player in tax preparation software, spent years tirelessly fighting any attempt by the government to bring the nightmarish American system of tax collection into line with European nations that have streamlined most citizens’ filing process down to the click of a button.
. . .
“Despite Treasury Secretary Bessent’s promise to keep Direct File going through the 2025 tax filing season, the long-term future of the program continues to be threatened, in no small part due to Intuit’s lobbying,” Warren wrote. “Intuit has spent nearly $4 million in 2023 and again in 2024 attempting to kill the program. During the 2024 election cycle, Intuit joined other commercial tax preparation companies to make large donations to Republican congressmembers who later worked to eliminate Direct File.”
Yet after tens of millions in lobbying, hundreds of millions in lawsuits, and a cool million for Trump’s inauguration, it seems that Intuit’s ceaseless spending has paid off.
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