4 ms·

And this is news worthy, how?

by czbond 8y ago

kbenson 8y ago
Because there was arecent legislative push for allowing the IRS to do people's taxes for them for the majority of people, since the IRS already has the info to do so. The Tax industry pushes back against that, strongly, and one of the ways they do so is to note how the provide a service to do the taxes for free for people under a certain level of income (I believe as mandated by earlier legislation?). That they purposefully make it hard for people that qualify to find the free service has some bearing on the situation.
danso 8y ago
Congress is debating a bill that would bar the IRS from creating an official free filing system, and instead, mandate that the IRS have private companies fill that role. The concern has been that private companies use dark patterns to upsell users into buying unnecessary paid features: https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-the-government-from-offering-free-online-tax-filing-thank-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- vonmoltke 8y ago
  Bar it from creating free filing software. Free e-filing pf fillable forms already exists, and would continue to exist. Not that this makes such a measure palatable.
cldellow 8y ago
The US government has promised TurboTax that the IRS will not create a free e-filing service. In exchange, TurboTax will offer its software for free to some low-income taxpayers. The US legislature is considering extending this deal. In light of that, various organizations are exploring how well the current deal is working. In sum: not very well, because TurboTax uses a variety of dark patterns to make it hard for people who are eligible for free services to discover it.
Liquix 8y ago
Large companies have been in the spotlight in the last 12 months for placing corporate interests above the interests of users. The use of 'dark patterns' (subtle, intentional UX changes with the purpose of driving user behavior towards a desired outcome) has been discussed as well. It is now tax season and many were not as informed on these issues last time they filed as they are now. Looking at the online free filing process under the aforementioned lens generates new observations, discussions, debates, headlines... Imo it's not so much that this is something new that's happening, it's that people are now aware of and pissed off about it.

And this is news worthy, how?

by czbond 8y ago

And this is news worthy, how?

Because there was arecent legislative push for allowing the IRS to do people's taxes for them for the majority of people, since the IRS already has the info to do so. The Tax industry pushes back against that, strongly, and one of the ways they do so is to note how the provide a service to do the taxes for free for people under a certain level of income (I believe as mandated by earlier legislation?). That they purposefully make it hard for people that qualify to find the free service has some bearing on the situation.

danso 8y ago

Congress is debating a bill that would bar the IRS from creating an official free filing system, and instead, mandate that the IRS have private companies fill that role. The concern has been that private companies use dark patterns to upsell users into buying unnecessary paid features: https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-the-government-from-offering-free-online-tax-filing-thank-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-...

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
vonmoltke 8y ago
Bar it from creating free filing software. Free e-filing pf fillable forms already exists, and would continue to exist. Not that this makes such a measure palatable.

cldellow 8y ago

The US government has promised TurboTax that the IRS will not create a free e-filing service. In exchange, TurboTax will offer its software for free to some low-income taxpayers. The US legislature is considering extending this deal. In light of that, various organizations are exploring how well the current deal is working. In sum: not very well, because TurboTax uses a variety of dark patterns to make it hard for people who are eligible for free services to discover it.

Liquix 8y ago

Large companies have been in the spotlight in the last 12 months for placing corporate interests above the interests of users. The use of 'dark patterns' (subtle, intentional UX changes with the purpose of driving user behavior towards a desired outcome) has been discussed as well. It is now tax season and many were not as informed on these issues last time they filed as they are now. Looking at the online free filing process under the aforementioned lens generates new observations, discussions, debates, headlines... Imo it's not so much that this is something new that's happening, it's that people are now aware of and pissed off about it.