SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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 The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday July 17 2019, @10:26PM (4 children)
I don't have a problem with Chuck's law (it's stupid but so are most things that happen in Congress) but I have a massive problem with people being expected to follow laws that they can't understand or keep up with.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday July 17 2019, @11:37PM (3 children)
It was major news at the time. And I'm not sure how much change individual filers actually experienced in terms of their obligations.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday July 18 2019, @11:10AM (2 children)
Wasn't speaking of this change specifically. More referring to the fact that pretty much nobody who isn't a CPA whose business it is to do so can understand and keep up with federal tax code.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 18 2019, @10:06PM (1 child)
Which is why I think the IRS needs to release software to calculate this stuff for free. This is even more reinforce by the fact that they already have the software they use to do the same calculations and their data-entry monkeys aren't CPAs either. They need to just break everything down to simple questions. For example, ask a regular person if they have "carried interest" or "deferred income" and they'll probably just look at you funny. Ask them if they are in charge of a registered investment fund or if their business received money for the sale of a product they haven't delivered, and you will get clear answers. Yes, I understand that some of the concepts are more complicated than that, but the basics are the basics, something is better than nothing, and the IRS already makes the determination of most variables through some automatic analysis, so they've broken it down somehow already.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday July 19 2019, @07:42PM
I'd prefer an amendment along the lines of "Laws that cannot be understood or kept up with by Average Joe are null and void," myself.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.