The 2017 tax overhaul vastly expanded the number of people who could file simplified tax returns, a boon to millions of Americans.
But the new law directly threatened the lucrative business of Intuit, the maker of TurboTax.
Although the company draws in customers with the promise of a "free" product, its fortunes depend on getting as many customers as possible to pay. It had been regularly charging $100 or more for returns that included itemized deductions for mortgage interest and charitable donations. Under the new law, many wealthier taxpayers would no longer be filing that form, qualifying them to use the company's free software.
Intuit executives came up with a way to preserve the company's hefty profit margins: It began charging more low-income people. Which ones? Individuals with disabilities, the unemployed and people who owe money on student loans, all of whom use tax forms that TurboTax previously included for free.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 17 2019, @09:19PM (5 children)
Fixed. Blame martyb
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday July 17 2019, @09:23PM (1 child)
Still not seeing it....
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday July 17 2019, @09:38PM
It takes a few minutes for edits to show up.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:32PM (2 children)
If you can't be arsed to cast blame manually, you can hop in #soylent on our irc server and type "~blame" instead. Bytram is his irc nick and we long ago saved ourselves time by letting the bot do half the typing since we blame him for everything from bugs in my code to the weather to the fish not biting.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday July 17 2019, @11:48PM (1 child)
That's a feature not a bug. Were the fish biting, you'd have something to do, something that would distract you from the serenity of fishing.
It take a strong will and years of practice to ignore the annoyance and keep on fishing. For this reason, many go in extremes and cheat, just casting an empty hook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 18 2019, @11:12AM
Sweet potatoes are also used by the wiser of such folks. You can't beat or bribe a fish into biting a sweet potato.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.