TurboTax's 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans from Filing Their Taxes for Free (2019)
16 hours ago
- #consumer-protection
- #tax-reform
- #corporate-lobbying
- Intuit's TurboTax has grown to dominate the tax software market, with 40 million U.S. taxpayers using it in 2019.
- Intuit has aggressively lobbied against government efforts to simplify tax filing, fearing it would undermine TurboTax's profitability.
- The Free File program, created in 2003, was a compromise where Intuit and others offered free tax filing to lower-income taxpayers in exchange for the IRS not creating its own system.
- Intuit has used deceptive practices, such as hiding Free File from search engines and employing 'dark patterns,' to steer users toward paid products.
- Internal documents show Intuit is aware customers are misled by its 'free' advertising but continues these tactics to maximize revenue.
- Former IRS officials have joined Intuit, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and regulatory capture.
- Despite criticism and investigations, Intuit remains profitable, with TurboTax generating over $1.5 billion from customers who could have filed for free.
- Recent scrutiny from ProPublica and regulators has led to dropped legislative efforts to make Free File permanent and sparked multiple investigations.