4 ms·

As someone quite familiar with the situation, you're better off saying "Fuck you Intuit". They spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to keep the tax system

As someone quite familiar with the situation, you're better off saying "Fuck you Intuit". They spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to keep the tax system complex. You can start here: http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-fought-free-simple-tax-filing http://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax-... For what it's worth, as a dual citizen of UK and New Zealand I've only filed a tax return twice in my life - when I was a contractor.

deleted 12y ago
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curun1r 12y ago
> They spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to keep the tax system complex. Not exactly. It wouldn't cost as much as Intuit spends on lobbying to keep the system overly complex. But Intuit doesn't want the tax code to get so complex that people are forced to seek outside help (yes, they make money from Lacerte and the rest of their Pro Tax division, but not as much as they do from TurboTax). And yet they don't want it to be so simple that you can do it on your own. They're seeking that perfect middle where you feel comfortable using software to prepare your taxes. It's a tenuous balance to maintain and why they have to spend so much on lobbying.
mcosta 12y ago
It is nice the article mentions Spain. Here you can just give the OK via web signing with a personal certificate issued by the government. But we have a National Identity Document (direct translation from Spanish: Documento Nacional de Identidad) with a nice chip where we can store the certificate [1]. Cons: we must carry it any where we go and show it to the police on request. I believe in USA that would be unimaginable because... you know... government control. BTW, thanks god Firefox supports client certificates and I sign from Linux. 1: http://www.dnielectronico.es/oficina_prensa/imagenes/modelo_dnie_g.jpg http://www.dnielectronico.es/oficina_prensa/imagenes/modelo_...

deleted 12y ago

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curun1r 12y ago

> They spend millions of dollars a year lobbying to keep the tax system complex. Not exactly. It wouldn't cost as much as Intuit spends on lobbying to keep the system overly complex. But Intuit doesn't want the tax code to get so complex that people are forced to seek outside help (yes, they make money from Lacerte and the rest of their Pro Tax division, but not as much as they do from TurboTax). And yet they don't want it to be so simple that you can do it on your own. They're seeking that perfect middle where you feel comfortable using software to prepare your taxes. It's a tenuous balance to maintain and why they have to spend so much on lobbying.

mcosta 12y ago

It is nice the article mentions Spain. Here you can just give the OK via web signing with a personal certificate issued by the government. But we have a National Identity Document (direct translation from Spanish: Documento Nacional de Identidad) with a nice chip where we can store the certificate [1]. Cons: we must carry it any where we go and show it to the police on request. I believe in USA that would be unimaginable because... you know... government control. BTW, thanks god Firefox supports client certificates and I sign from Linux. 1: http://www.dnielectronico.es/oficina_prensa/imagenes/modelo_dnie_g.jpg http://www.dnielectronico.es/oficina_prensa/imagenes/modelo_...