4 ms·

Because this isn't about that, this is about their marketing of their TurboTax Free edition

by ezfe 4y ago

munk-a 4y ago
They are fraudulently advertising their product to the whole nation - it still comes out to 50c/head.
- geodel 4y ago
  Huh, whole media is chock full of fraudulent advertising including things that are not even marked as advertising. Now you can call it whataboutery but thankfully courts have to reasonably go with what they can prove and not like "whoa, you showed fraudulent ads, here is 128 billion dollar fine equal to your market cap today. Shutdown the company and pay by end of week."
  - maerF0x0 4y ago
    I mean, no one suggested bankrupt the company -- but as other's have pointed out it remains _profitable_ to be fraudulent. Like at least fine them >= 100% of the value they gained.
    - moate 4y ago
      Hello. I would like to suggest bankrupting the company. It's not "fair" or "just" but it would be in the common good. Plenty of precedent for that from governments that give a fuck about the citizens and not the corporations. I realize this isn't actually going to happen, but I'd vote for the measure that involved the state seizing Intuit and raiding their software for the benefit of the IRS. (FWIW, I'm not going to respond to comments on this debating the merits of this non-plan. I get it's an unpopular opinion, especially on a tech-funding backed news board, so I don't need people to tell me why this is a "bad" choice and how it will slippery slope into whatever socialist hellscape personally keeps people up at night. Just wanted it out there that there are absolutely people willing to tear the whole fucking thing down because it's so broken).
      - tyrfing 4y ago
        Could you link some of those precedents?
        moate 4y ago
        Google is free: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprise Root around in there, plenty of examples of nations taking control of individual companies or entire industries. Feel free to make your own judgements of which were doing it "for the good of the people" vs "to take control of a major income sector in order to enrich a minority of individuals within the government".
      - the_only_law 4y ago
        > I would like to suggest bankrupting the company. It's not "fair" or "just" but it would be in the common good. Interestingly, someone pointed out the same reason is why these companies get bailed out when they fail.
        moate 4y ago
        That person is a Capitalist, and I am not.
      - geodel 4y ago
        Ok, I surely not going to argue about minor technical details of plan or possible flaws in execution. One question to ponder is how companies like Intuit came into being in first place. Why is doing accounts, filing taxes have to be so detailed and complex that this service is needed by many? If IRS rules and government legislations are published in detail, months/years ahead of enforcement, should a reasonably intelligent person just follow along and file directly without any intermediaries. After all using third party service is not something mandated by law and not using it would result in fine.
    - nearbuy 4y ago
      I'm not sure it was profitable. The article suggests they duped 4.4 million Americans. They would likely still have made at least a little money off those people if their marketing was honest. There's reputational damage too. Hopefully more people will avoid TurboTax after this news story. I'm not sure the false advertising turned out to be a good business decision in the end.
- ezfe 4y ago
  But...the whole nation doesn't use their product
  - munk-a 4y ago
    The whole nation is exposed to their advertising. And, tbh, they are extremely dominant in the market.

Because this isn't about that, this is about their marketing of their TurboTax Free edition

by ezfe 4y ago

Because this isn't about that, this is about their marketing of their TurboTax Free edition

munk-a 4y ago

They are fraudulently advertising their product to the whole nation - it still comes out to 50c/head.

geodel 4y ago
Huh, whole media is chock full of fraudulent advertising including things that are not even marked as advertising. Now you can call it whataboutery but thankfully courts have to reasonably go with what they can prove and not like "whoa, you showed fraudulent ads, here is 128 billion dollar fine equal to your market cap today. Shutdown the company and pay by end of week."
- maerF0x0 4y ago
  I mean, no one suggested bankrupt the company -- but as other's have pointed out it remains _profitable_ to be fraudulent. Like at least fine them >= 100% of the value they gained.
  - moate 4y ago
    Hello. I would like to suggest bankrupting the company. It's not "fair" or "just" but it would be in the common good. Plenty of precedent for that from governments that give a fuck about the citizens and not the corporations. I realize this isn't actually going to happen, but I'd vote for the measure that involved the state seizing Intuit and raiding their software for the benefit of the IRS. (FWIW, I'm not going to respond to comments on this debating the merits of this non-plan. I get it's an unpopular opinion, especially on a tech-funding backed news board, so I don't need people to tell me why this is a "bad" choice and how it will slippery slope into whatever socialist hellscape personally keeps people up at night. Just wanted it out there that there are absolutely people willing to tear the whole fucking thing down because it's so broken).
    - tyrfing 4y ago
      Could you link some of those precedents?
      - moate 4y ago
        Google is free: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_enterprise Root around in there, plenty of examples of nations taking control of individual companies or entire industries. Feel free to make your own judgements of which were doing it "for the good of the people" vs "to take control of a major income sector in order to enrich a minority of individuals within the government".
    - the_only_law 4y ago
      > I would like to suggest bankrupting the company. It's not "fair" or "just" but it would be in the common good. Interestingly, someone pointed out the same reason is why these companies get bailed out when they fail.
      - moate 4y ago
        That person is a Capitalist, and I am not.
    - geodel 4y ago
      Ok, I surely not going to argue about minor technical details of plan or possible flaws in execution. One question to ponder is how companies like Intuit came into being in first place. Why is doing accounts, filing taxes have to be so detailed and complex that this service is needed by many? If IRS rules and government legislations are published in detail, months/years ahead of enforcement, should a reasonably intelligent person just follow along and file directly without any intermediaries. After all using third party service is not something mandated by law and not using it would result in fine.
  - nearbuy 4y ago
    I'm not sure it was profitable. The article suggests they duped 4.4 million Americans. They would likely still have made at least a little money off those people if their marketing was honest. There's reputational damage too. Hopefully more people will avoid TurboTax after this news story. I'm not sure the false advertising turned out to be a good business decision in the end.
ezfe 4y ago
But...the whole nation doesn't use their product
- munk-a 4y ago
  The whole nation is exposed to their advertising. And, tbh, they are extremely dominant in the market.