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> The H&R Block spokeswoman said the company’s Free File offering grew 8.3% this year.. I wonder what was the growth of the paid products. Gut feeling tells me

> The H&R Block spokeswoman said the company’s Free File offering grew 8.3% this year.. I wonder what was the growth of the paid products. Gut feeling tells me that it was far more than 8.3%. I have said before (and it didn't do good to my karma but this is more important). I feel that USA Democracy (not the political party) has been corrupted and injured by Lobbying. "Corporate America" rules and the people are there just to get their blood sucked. Healthcare is ran by insurance companies with insane pricing. Talking to the state should be free. Submitting your taxes should be free. I am using (in the UK) a software, but it is my choice to use it. I could be using Excel files and have my accountant submitting printed papers. My choice. It is called freedom. Those companies are playing the people for fools. They will keep pushing so that the vast majority of the people will need to pay to pay taxes. It doesn't make sense :)

eric_cc 8y ago
I agree with the fact that lobbying is a big problem. I think just about everybody agrees with that. However, the rest of your points aren’t so great. The tax services are quite convenient and useful paid services. Submitting free taxes in the USA is obviously an option. And to your point on health care: health insurance companies are not the only bad actors in the health care system.
- zmarty 8y ago
  Not convenient or useful at all. You know what would be actually convenient and useful? The government pre-filling most of your taxes for you, like in other countries.
  - ulfw 8y ago
    No kidding. Especially if said government and audit and hence sue you when you made a mistake where your calculated numbers don’t match up with the government’s calculated numbers. Insane, if you think about it!
  - eric_cc 8y ago
    I agree. My comment was relative to the situation in which we live in.
sosborn 8y ago
> Talking to the state should be free. It is free. Hiring a lobbyist is much like hiring an advertising firm. You could do the work yourself, but you pay for expertise and connections. Where lobbyists have the advantage is they know who to call to get the meetings, and they have information from other clients they can leverage. The problem isn't that money changes hands, it's that votes change hands, and oftentimes, lobbyists are the ones best positioned to trade in this currency.
ulfw 8y ago
I agree. It is hard for me to wrap around that corporations can have more say in what the government does than the government doing something good for it’s (voting) public. If the public would rather have simple tax filing then that is what any reasonable government (that wants to get elected and wants to actually collect tax revenue) should do, regardless of some private corporations quarterly numbers/stock price.
woah 8y ago
You can submit printed papers for free

eric_cc 8y ago

I agree with the fact that lobbying is a big problem. I think just about everybody agrees with that. However, the rest of your points aren’t so great. The tax services are quite convenient and useful paid services. Submitting free taxes in the USA is obviously an option. And to your point on health care: health insurance companies are not the only bad actors in the health care system.

zmarty 8y ago
Not convenient or useful at all. You know what would be actually convenient and useful? The government pre-filling most of your taxes for you, like in other countries.
- ulfw 8y ago
  No kidding. Especially if said government and audit and hence sue you when you made a mistake where your calculated numbers don’t match up with the government’s calculated numbers. Insane, if you think about it!
- eric_cc 8y ago
  I agree. My comment was relative to the situation in which we live in.

sosborn 8y ago

> Talking to the state should be free. It is free. Hiring a lobbyist is much like hiring an advertising firm. You could do the work yourself, but you pay for expertise and connections. Where lobbyists have the advantage is they know who to call to get the meetings, and they have information from other clients they can leverage. The problem isn't that money changes hands, it's that votes change hands, and oftentimes, lobbyists are the ones best positioned to trade in this currency.

ulfw 8y ago

I agree. It is hard for me to wrap around that corporations can have more say in what the government does than the government doing something good for it’s (voting) public. If the public would rather have simple tax filing then that is what any reasonable government (that wants to get elected and wants to actually collect tax revenue) should do, regardless of some private corporations quarterly numbers/stock price.

woah 8y ago

You can submit printed papers for free