@MEActNOW
Awesomeness. Which means they’ll expand it to more states. Meanwhile #gop is going to bitch whine moan kick scream holler about their corporate overlords not getting returns on those lobbying dollars from #intuit#turbotax#hrblock#taxact etc.
I am not promoter of the NYTimes in general, but this opinion video they just put out about filing #taxes is on point.
Let this serve as my annual reminder that #Intuit is not your friend and that #TurboTax is a scam. The US tax filing system is broken and we should not be playing guessing games with the IRS every tax season.
The federal agency, after an investigation prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, blasted #Intuit for misleading customers about its “free” tax-filing program and directed the company to take specific steps to fix its ads.
In my column this week, I talk about the ... paradox ... of #Intuit (maker of #TurboTax) seeking $94m in research tax credits while simultaneously doing everything in its power to drown the IRS Direct File initiative.
When it comes to #tax prep, public funds are being spent to undermine the expenditure of other public funds. Guess who the losers are?
Once, workers had "#DefinedBenefitsPensions," where employers promised to pay a certain amount every year from retirement to death. #JimmyCarter swapped that out for #401Ks, "market" pensions where you have to guess which stocks will be valuable or starve in your old age:
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:
More recently, #Intuit and other scammy #TaxPrep services have argued against the #IRS's plan to offer free tax preparation as bad for Black and brown people, because it will deny them the chance to be deceived and ripped off with #TurboTax:
I know, I know, it's weird when the worst people you know are right, even when they're right for the wrong reasons: like, the "Intelligence Community" is genuinely terrible, pharma companies are murderous crooks, and Big Tech really does have a dangerous grip on public debate. The swivel-eyed loons have a point, is what I'm saying:
Woke capitalism is just another kind of "#PredatoryInclusion," like #Intuit's campaign defending its "#FreeFile" tax-prep scam, where they're claiming that ending this ripoff is racist because it denies #Black families the right to be tricked into paying for something they are entitled to get for free:
Today's key concept is #PredatoryInclusion: "a process wherein lenders and financial actors offer needed services to Black households but on exploitative terms that limit or eliminate their long-term benefits":
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:
Naturally, this was bullshit from top to bottom, and countries with zero-rating ended up having more expensive wireless broadband than the countries that banned it:
The predatory inclusion gambit is insultingly transparent, but that doesn't stop desperate scammers from trying it. The latest chancer is #Intuit, who claim that the end of its decade-long, wildly profitable "free tax prep" scam is bad for Black people:
#TurboTax Parent Company's Latest Argument Against Free Tax Filing: It Will Harm #Black Taxpayers
Articles published around the country repeat Intuit’s assertion — sometimes almost word for word — that the upcoming #IRS pilot program would hurt Black Americans.
A researcher whose work is cited by #Intuit says the company is misstating her findings.
Deleted my mint.com account today, recommend anyone else do the same along with Turbo Tax.
Forgot I had it, they stopped working with Fidelity accounts a good while ago. They're owned by Turbo Tax who is pretty much literally why the IRS doesn't just send you a bill automatically.
The Federal Trade Commission's chief administrative law judge ruled that Intuit violated US law with deceptive advertising and should be forced to stop promoting TurboTax as "free" unless all conditions imposed on the free offer are immediately and conspicuously displayed to consumers.
A Federal Trade Commission judge ruled this week that #TurboTax parent company Intuit deceived consumers when it ran ads for “free” tax products for which many consumers were ineligible.
The #FTC began investigating TurboTax in 2019 in response to ProPublica's ongoing TurboTax Trap series, which detailed the ways #Intuit has kept taxpayers from accessing free & easy #tax filing:
Filing your taxes could be free starting this year. The IRS is running a direct-file pilot program. The goal is to make companies like TurboTax obsolete through a system where your taxes are filled out for you. But tax prep companies are spending millions to block them....
FTC judge rules Intuit broke law, must stop advertising TurboTax as “free” (arstechnica.com)
The Federal Trade Commission's chief administrative law judge ruled that Intuit violated US law with deceptive advertising and should be forced to stop promoting TurboTax as "free" unless all conditions imposed on the free offer are immediately and conspicuously displayed to consumers.
[Analysis] This Is How We Finally Kill Turbotax (www.youtube.com)
Filing your taxes could be free starting this year. The IRS is running a direct-file pilot program. The goal is to make companies like TurboTax obsolete through a system where your taxes are filled out for you. But tax prep companies are spending millions to block them....