> But... didn't Congress pass some corrupt legislation years ago that made it illegal for the government to set up a tax-filing Web site? What happened to this

> But... didn't Congress pass some corrupt legislation years ago that made it illegal for the government to set up a tax-filing Web site? What happened to this: https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban- https://www.propublica.org/article/congress-is-about-to-ban-... Thanks for pointing this out - looking at the responses, folks blaming congress might have a point but I'm also surprised that this thread isn't directing more of the frustration to intuit and others involved in the deliberately confusingly named "free file alliance" - an industry coalition that's nominally providing a free filing option that's hidden / limited / difficult enough to use that very few people actually do despite it being free. The answer to your question is that initially yes, it was banned as part of a mutual MOU, but it is not anymore. The rest is in here: https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-program-drops-agreement-not-to-compete-with-turbotax https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro... Here's more on the subject: - This one has internal slides from intuit https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-f... - This is a report prepared by a left think tank (pointing this out as a disclaimer) that has a lot of details from earnings calls and such: https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2023/05/15/64623af9e4b005be8ff4f932.pdf https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2023/05/1... - This one details on the influence of the "revolving door" of lobbyists taking governemnt positions on the IRS' policymaking https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/05/turbotax-owner-intuit-ramps-up-lobbying-as-debate-over-government-run-free-tax-filing-heats-up/ https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/05/turbotax-owner-intu...