boutons_deux
03-26-2013, 01:24 PM
Imagine filing your income taxes in five minutes 2014 and for free. You’d open up a pre-filled return, see what the government thinks you owe, make any needed changes and be done. The miserable annual IRS shuffle, gone.
It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain (http://www.oecd.org/tax/taxadministration/36280368.pdf). The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.
The idea, known as “return-free filing,” would be a voluntary alternative to hiring a tax preparer or using commercial tax software. The concept has been around for decades and has been endorsed by both President Ronald Reagan (http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1985/52885c.htm) and a campaigning President (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfTh_FBZ1XU) Obama (http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2007%2FPOLITICS%2 F12%2F21%2Fobama.trans.taxfairness%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHtXxYN4l4ahvOlctkG5OcWoszmXw).
“This is not some pie-in-the-sky that’s never been done before,” said William Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “It’s doable, feasible, implementable, and at a relatively low cost.”
So why hasn’t it become a reality?
Well, for one thing, it doesn’t help that it’s been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software 2014 Intuit, maker of TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.
Intuit has spent (http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000026667) about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years 2014 more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit’s disclosures (http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=2A0E2ECE-33A2-44E9-A822-7F0ECAB409AC&filingTypeID=60) pointedly note that the company “opposes IRS government tax preparation.”
The disclosures show that Intuit as recently as 2011 lobbied on two (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1069/text) bills (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s727/text), both of which died, that would have allowed many taxpayers to file pre-filled returns for free. The company also lobbied on bills in 2007 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr3457/text) and 2011 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2528/text) that would have barred the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, from initiating return-free filing.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/26/how-turbo-tax-killed-free-and-simple-tax-filing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29
It’s already a reality in Denmark, Sweden and Spain (http://www.oecd.org/tax/taxadministration/36280368.pdf). The government-prepared return would estimate your taxes using information your employer and bank already send it. Advocates say tens of millions of taxpayers could use such a system each year, saving them a collective $2 billion and 225 million hours in prep costs and time, according to one estimate.
The idea, known as “return-free filing,” would be a voluntary alternative to hiring a tax preparer or using commercial tax software. The concept has been around for decades and has been endorsed by both President Ronald Reagan (http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1985/52885c.htm) and a campaigning President (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfTh_FBZ1XU) Obama (http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2007%2FPOLITICS%2 F12%2F21%2Fobama.trans.taxfairness%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHtXxYN4l4ahvOlctkG5OcWoszmXw).
“This is not some pie-in-the-sky that’s never been done before,” said William Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “It’s doable, feasible, implementable, and at a relatively low cost.”
So why hasn’t it become a reality?
Well, for one thing, it doesn’t help that it’s been opposed for years by the company behind the most popular consumer tax software 2014 Intuit, maker of TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.
Intuit has spent (http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000026667) about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five years 2014 more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of issues, Intuit’s disclosures (http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&filingID=2A0E2ECE-33A2-44E9-A822-7F0ECAB409AC&filingTypeID=60) pointedly note that the company “opposes IRS government tax preparation.”
The disclosures show that Intuit as recently as 2011 lobbied on two (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr1069/text) bills (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s727/text), both of which died, that would have allowed many taxpayers to file pre-filled returns for free. The company also lobbied on bills in 2007 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr3457/text) and 2011 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr2528/text) that would have barred the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, from initiating return-free filing.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/26/how-turbo-tax-killed-free-and-simple-tax-filing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story% 29