Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free
www.propublica.org
Using lobbying, the revolving door and “dark pattern” customer tricks, Intuit fended off the government’s attempts to make tax filing free and easy, and created its multi-billion-dollar franchise.

“For a decade proposals have sought to create IRS tax software or a ReturnFree Tax System; All were stopped,” reads a confidential 2007 PowerPoint presentation from an Intuit board of directors meeting. The company’s 2014-15 plan included manufacturing “3rd-party grass roots” support. “Buy ads for op-eds/editorials/stories in African American and Latino media,” one internal PowerPoint slide states.

  • hogposting [he/him,comrade/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Stuff like this is why capitalism doesn't need to be reformed or better regulated -- it needs to be abolished. As long as a small number of people can get their hands on an enormous pile of wealth, they can use that to bend the rules of the game to their favor.