From my perspective this a win-win program. Making taxes easier and or cheaper to file is an obvious benefit to taxpayers and I would imagine it results in more

From my perspective this a win-win program. Making taxes easier and or cheaper to file is an obvious benefit to taxpayers and I would imagine it results in more people paying taxes on time since there is less of a barrier to them doing so. I can understand a desire to reduce government spending but it looks like the pilot cost for 12 states was $24.6 million which seems like an incredibly good value to me and the program is obviously optional allowing anyone who wants more customization to choose their own option. Seems like a good effort towards reducing what I see as the duplicative nature of both the IRS and payers figuring out what they owe. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/direct-file-pilot-officially-closes-after-more-than-140000-taxpayers-successfully-use-direct-e-filing-system-in-12-states-including-integration-with-4-state-tax-systems https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/direct-file-pilot-officially-cl... relevant context: 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...