Interestingly, this is what Congress legislated in 1998 only to be beaten back by lobbying from the tax preparation industry: The Free File Alliance came to be

Interestingly, this is what Congress legislated in 1998 only to be beaten back by lobbying from the tax preparation industry: The Free File Alliance came to be because Congress originally mandated the IRS to do away with tax returns altogether in a law called the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998. After a major lobbying push by the tax preparation industry, the Free File Alliance was introduced as a way to let low-income Americans file their taxes for free without getting rid of tax returns. The Alliance drew institutional momentum away from the change to return-free filing, which likely would have rendered large segments of the tax prep industry totally useless. https://thehill.com/homenews/3607174-the-irs-could-be-on-the-verge-of-changing-the-way-americans-file-their-taxes/ https://thehill.com/homenews/3607174-the-irs-could-be-on-the...