8 ms·

2M is nothing, according to this[1] 3.7B was spent in total on "lobbying" last year meaning that amounts to 0.05% of total activity. The idea that Intuit is The

• nightski 5y ago
  Tax filing really isn't painful in the U.S. for the vast majority of people. Saying that it is complex is the true lie. It takes like 5 minutes for most if all you have is a W-2. It's also really cheap if not free.
  • jkaptur 5y ago
    This is wrong for many reasons, but I'll just give one example: what if you're a gig worker? Here's some guidance: https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/tax-information/ https://www.uber.com/us/en/drive/tax-information/
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  • Damogran6 5y ago
    Or kids, or a house, or an. Electric car, or a 401k, or an HSA None of these are hard to track, but they’re more complications that take time to fill out in our current, broken, system.
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    • sokoloff 5y ago
      I think 401K and HSA are pretty much automatically correctly handled on your W-2 statement. (The general point stands, but those two examples I think are seamless.)
      • Retric 5y ago
        401k has a lot of tax implications outside of just adding money in every year.
  • rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
    > It takes like 5 minutes for most Average tax preparation time in the US is 175 minutes. > Tax filing really isn't painful in the U.S. for the vast majority of people You're probably referring to the fact that 36% of people itemized deductions in 2007, and only 10% itemized in 2020. But even taking the standard deduction, the process is still much more complex than it needs to be, and there are plenty of other factors that add additional complexity (e.g. gig work, home ownership, stock sales, etc.)
    • nightski 5y ago
      Averages can be misleading, what is the median? I was obviously exaggerating with 5 minutes, but I doubt it is 175 minutes. I know I personally spend a lot more time than that but my situation is intentionally complicated.
      • beaconstudios 5y ago
        As an employee (currently) in the UK, I spend exactly 0 minutes preparing my taxes. I don't have to do it!
  • vlunkr 5y ago
    It's simple once you've done it a few times and understand that there are probably only a few numbers you need to enter. For example, If you don't understand the difference itemized vs. standard deductions, you might waste hours hunting down medical bills only to find out it doesn't matter. Until you've got it down, there are a million variables and special cases to consider.
• mattkrause 5y ago
  That $2M is basically "unopposed" though, because it's tough to organize well-funded coalitions against something that slightly affects a large number of people.
  • mywittyname 5y ago
    Also, politicians are amazingly cheap. Remember reading that Comcast bought of my local representative for $30k. I'm sure politicians with "aligned views" on the matter are even cheaper. There's only 100 senator and 435 house member. Of those, companies only need to buy a few swing votes. $2MM at 30k a pop is 66 votes. If most republicans are on board anyway, that's all they need.
  • SilasX 5y ago
    Really? Has anyone tried a gofundme to hire lobbyists like this parody article suggests? https://www.theonion.com/american-people-hire-high-powered-lobbyist-to-push-inte-1819571821 https://www.theonion.com/american-people-hire-high-powered-l...
    • saalweachter 5y ago
      That is basically how "grass roots" lobbying works. Someone starts a group - like the ACLU or AU - raises some money, and then uses that to either support themselves while lobbying in Washington or to hire a dedicated lobbyist while they focus on fundraising.
• newfriend 5y ago
  "It's the Republicans fault!" What a unique and interesting take.
  • Retric 5y ago
    I agree it’s a common refrain for pro business decisions that hurt America, but a useful counter argument is to look for who sponsored what amendments.
  • tqi 5y ago
    It's not a take to say that Republicans are not in favor of a more efficient IRS [1]. It was also not meant as a moral judgement (at least not by me). While it is not my position, I understand that if one believes that taxes are bad then there is no incentive to make tax collection easier. My only point is that the article misunderstands the root causes. [1] https://www.axios.com/gop-tax-irs-infrastructure-9226b210-051b-46fc-99c5-e1906c82ed2b.html https://www.axios.com/gop-tax-irs-infrastructure-9226b210-05...
  • SamWhited 5y ago
    That doesn't make it untrue.
  • Daishiman 5y ago
    Party that doesn't believe in effective government sabotaging all efforts to make government effective. It's been documented; it is literally what they claim to do.
• jimt1234 5y ago
  The influence of Intuit and H&R Block is basically meaningless compared to the wealthy in this country that benefit most from the complicated tax code.
  • stjohnswarts 5y ago
    The complication is because of all the loopholes carved out for them and a byproduct of that process.
    • giantg2 5y ago
      Not just for them, but in general it's the fact that we use tax code as a means of policy implementation. So we end up with all sorts of complicated deductions, credits, taxes, etc because politicians want to promote or discourage some action.
• PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  There's .. 1. lobbying in general 2. lobbying about US tax code, tax code enforcement and IRS funding 3. lobbying about the way US tax returns are done The fact that the amount spent on 3. by Intuit et al. is a small part of the amount spent on 1. does not make it any less outrageous. > If they stopped lobbying altogether, would anyone expect that the IRS would suddenly be allowed to make filing "Free & Simple"? Who would be opposed to this?
  • tqi 5y ago
    > Who would be opposed to this? Republicans who view taxes as inherently corrupt and therefore are not in favor of improving the system. (also as I mentioned elsewhere, that statement is not meant to be a value judgement - if you are opposed to taxes then it makes sense to oppose improvements to the system)