4 ms·

There's probably not a single lawmaker that they don't have on the hooks, along with a litany of CPA's who's sole existence depends on you requiring to have som

There's probably not a single lawmaker that they don't have on the hooks, along with a litany of CPA's who's sole existence depends on you requiring to have someone just input numbers into Intuit QuickBooks. And most Americans just pretend that it's "fine". Fun fact - to avoid under-withholding my CPA wants to charge me $2300 per year, that's not tax deductible. A simple thing of making sure that my withholdings are correct throughout the year and I don't have to pay IRS more in April... So no. This is a corrupt system, that most Americans just pretend is "the norm".

ortusdux 3y ago
One major issue is the number of jobs the current system props up. I wouldn't call it corruption when a lobbyist tells a Senator that pre-filled tax forms would cost their district 10k jobs. But I don't think the government should avoid providing preventative dental care because it might affect dentists' bottom line.
spunker540 3y ago
I'm not too convinced about the lobbying argument. I know they spend $2-3M per year on lobbying. but 1) our govt doesnt get anything done anyways, regardless of how much Intuit spends. I believe the null hypothesis is pretty likely here (they could not spend that money and still be the #1 tax company and no real laws get passed to take that away from them). 2) $3M just doesnt sound like a lot to a company as big as Intuit. If that's all it takes to get congress on your side, seems like not that big an obstacle in the first place for any company in any industry. I am open to more direct evidence to the contrary though.