Funniest part is how they’re bribing the government with the money they took from customers. Now they can take more money from customers, which is more money for bribes.
It also means they didn’t need to charge customers the prices they charged, since they have enough money to operate their business and bribe politicians.
It’s like, you’re paying them to work against you.
So backwards, but that’s by design. Don’t be a useful idiot.
That’s called bribery in my country. It’s disgusting and very prevalent here but at least we don’t embellish the idea with polite terminology 😂
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And if you’re in France, don’t use TurboTax, use the official government website that calculates everything for you reliably every year :o
With the nice simulator mode so you can run the numbers and see how much you need to budget for well beforehand.
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Unfortunately, the tool WealthSimple provides used to be called SimpleTax. It was made by a team in Vancouver and operated as donationware. You could file your taxes then choose however much you wanted to donate to them for the tool. They promised that they’d never sell your data, and never charge for the tool.
But… then they sold out to WealthSimple, who of course removed that promise to never sell your data.
wait you guys have to pay to file taxes???
do they actually want you to evade taxes??
The tax system is so complicated, most people can’t handle navigating it on their own. Most people have jobs where taxes are automatically removed from pay checks and sent to both state and federal tax agencies. However, that amount is just an estimate and once a year (or quarter) you need to file paperwork to confirm whether you over or underpaid and then you either get a rebate (without interest), or you’ll need to send in a payment to make up the difference. That paperwork has been lobbied to remain as complicated as possible so that companies like Intuit can provide services that tax payers find useful and continue to pay for. This is more complicated for business owners, both big and small.
Well, in my opinion this will be a good platform for American progressives to run on: make taxes less complicated by getting rid of middle men.
This will absolutely 10000% never happen as long as lobbying exists in my opinion.
There is nothing wrong with lobbying…. There are lobbies for woman’s rights, black rights, all sorts of good causes have lobbies.
The politicians just bend over for corporate lobbies. Very important distinction. I think what would fit your argument better is will never happen as long as citizens United exists.
Any paid lobbying is bribery. Legislators should raise people’s opinion who voted them in and act as representative, not say what others pay them to say.
I can’t believe it is legal in so many countries. Apparently though it seems more problematic in the US but European countries aren’t immune either.
I mean someone has to pay the lobbiests. The National Organization for women pays lawyers to write laws for them to present to congress, through lobbiests who are also paid. You want feminist groups who are allowed to write feminist laws and present them to congress right? You want someone to advocate for laws you want right? That’s lobbying?
Citizens united is what you guys are thinking of. The one where corporations can donate infinite money to politicians? So when a corporate lobby brings anti-feminist legislation, they then contribute lots of money to the politician they are lobbying. And magically the politican ignores their voters and sides with the anti-feminist pro corporate law. That’s citizens united. It’s not a problem with lobbying. You have a problem with corporate lobbys not womans rights lobbys right? You have a problem with your representatives favoring corporate lobbys because they get infinite money throught… DRUM ROLL… Citizens united.
I really hope this helps.
When we were legalizing cannabis in Maine the local growers had to form a lobby to fight against the out of state corporate growers who also had a powerful lobby. Banning lobbying doesn’t help it just takes away peoples voices. Lobbying is just a group of people pooling resources to enact common legislation or political goals. It’s an important part of the political process people neglect. and it’s been diluted by money. Don’t need to dilute it further with misinformation.
and it’s been diluted by money
That’s why they said “any paid lobbying is bribery”. While anyone can sign a petition to your representative and that’s technically also lobbying, what we’re talking about here is not that. In a democracy, every person gets their voice heard. With lobbying, only the dollar speaks.
There needs to be more citizen lobbying. What really needs to happen is citizens organizing, pooling their money, and hiring lobbyists, just like big corporations do.
A look at the Forbes Fortune500 should point out why that’s basically impossible.
Just looking at the top one, Walmart, not even considering anyone else on this list, their raw profit in 2024 after all expenses and payrolls and everything was
$15,511,000,000.00
Amazon in the #2 spot made almost double that. Remember this isn’t revenue, this is profit, this is extra money after all normal expenses are paid.
If I pulled together every single person I’ve ever met in my life, regardless of their opinion of me, and we all donated all the money we had ever made in our lives, we might approach a tenth of Walmart’s 2024 profits.
The wealth inequality gap in America is large enough that it is actually difficult to wrap your head around. The difference between a million dollars and a billion dollars is about a billion dollars - to be exact, you’ll need 999 million more dollars to reach it after you have your first million in the bank. Fighting corporate money with citizens’ money is not only wasteful but impossible.
Now much of that money do they spend on lobbyists?
You and I will never know, but it could be up to that amount without even impacting daily activities.
Working within a corrupt system often serves to more deeply entrench that system.
I mean, yes, because if they catch you evading taxes then they get a free slave for the term of your incarceration. To them it’s a win-win.
oh shit yeah, theres that too.
beacon of democracy.
No. You can file your taxes for free. And, if you ever pay to file your taxes, you’re not paying the government, you’re paying for tax preparation software or for a tax professional to do your taxes for you.
But! Even if your tax situation is very simple, filing your taxes on your own is difficult. In Europe, the government sends you a form with what they think you owe based on all the information they have on you. If you agree with the calculation, you just send the form back and either pay or receive a refund.
In the US your employer gives you some sheets of paper with some values on it. Your bank gives you some different forms. And so-on. When it’s tax time, you gather up all that paper, hope you have it all, try to remember what forms you need and if you have them, and then painstakingly try to copy the right values from the W-2, 1099-INT, and so on into the right boxes on form 1040, 1040 Schedule 1, 1040 Schedule 2, 1040 Schedule H, 1095-A, and so on. Then, you try to do the calculations where it says to multiply the value from 1040 row 43 by the correct value in table A9. A9 has different values depending on how many dependants you have, and if you’re filing jointly or alone.
Basically, it’s doable on your own, especially if you have a fairly standard / simple tax situation. But, it’s easy to make a mistake along the way. If you ever need an explanation about what you’re supposed to do, that information exists, but it’s in accountanteze, and it often refers to about 5 other IRS publications that just complicate things further. And, when you’re dealing with thousands of dollars, a mistake could be really costly. So, most people buy a copy of TurboTax every year for $30, which somehow turns into $60 by the time you’re actually ready to file because the $30 version only covers people in situation X, and since you have Y you need to upgrade.
TurboTax then takes $1 out of the $60 you paid them, and goes to Washington with that to lobby politicians to keep the tax code complicated so that people need to buy a new TurboTax every year. (Oh yeah, and things change just enough that every year you need to buy the latest software to file your taxes.)
Australia prefills all the information from employers, banks, share market registers so most people can log onto the government website, go to their tax account and accept the prefilled form
Yeah, most places do. AFAIK it’s just Canada and the US that don’t.
Here in the UK I have never had to file taxes. It’s all done as PAYE. Whatever software your employer uses will work out how much you owe via your tax code each pay packet and it’s auto deducted. It’s only self employed people (maybe other types of earner, I wouldn’t know, I’m just a waged employee) who have to submit their tax forms. It’s weird other countries aren’t doing it this way.
In Europe, the government sends you a form with what they think you owe based on all the information they have on you. If you agree with the calculation, you just send the form back and either pay or receive a refund.
That’s not true everywhere in Europe
Oh good I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand.
Yeah I figured the Canadian system we have was as bad as the US’s but apparently not. Having to pay to file is wild
Imagine having to pay to give the government money. I had to open this to confirm what I was reading.
No they just want us to do our part by both paying taxes to the government and paying corporations that pay the government. All makes sense in a tidy corporofascisit system.
No, and no. It is typically more convenient to pay to file taxes though. These companies hand hold you through the process and often have some protection for you if you get audited.
That said, this still means the government needs to make things easier for everyone. You shouldn’t feel like you need help to just file a standard tax return if all you do is have a regular job, no investments, and no deductions. Which is something like half of the US.
Real talk: why do we have to ‘file taxes’ at all in 2025?
Don’t we have computers that should be automating taxes?
thats always my first thought when this subject comes up.
Because companies lobby Congress to prohibit major IRS restructuring and spending. If the IRS had auto filing and a bigger budget, it would make more money than ever before.
The IRS could go after and audit rich people while the common person just gets a check in the mall from their returns. Maybe even no check, as the returns are only from miscalculations by the federal system, which is due to a bad system in place.
We need a federal tax system in the US. No one likes paying taxes but we do. The IRS is the center of that for the Feds. And the Republicans gut it because it’s easy to say “I’ll lower your taxes” but not solve where the money comes from.
A million dollars is all it takes to buy whatever laws you want? That’s a really good deal for Intuit.
Remember all those (exactly) 1 million dollar “donations” all those CEOs were giving to Trump’s inaugural campaign? Those weren’t donations, they were bribes and kissing of the ring. Pledge loyalty (and pay a small fee) and the government will work for you.
Except if you’re Google or Facebook. Trump will accept your money and still fuck you over. Why anyone trusts him is beyond me.
They don’t trust him, but they don’t want to get on his bad side. They’re basically hoping that he’ll ignore them or forget about them, and focus his attention on his other enemies.
There are a huge swath of self-serving, inwardly thinking, assholes that see themselves in Trump. That’s why they love him. With him leading they can be unabashedly racist and sexist… in other words they get to be themselves.
Politicians are cheap, I remember once seeing a list of how much a lobbyist buys support from politicians for and the list was like $5k $2k $3k $6k. It’s ridiculous
That’s affordable. Maybe I’ll buy one
Now you need to save it for your tax filing fees
It’s much more complicated than that though. The lobbying firms hire people who are former politicians or former senior staffers who have all kinds of contacts all over Washington. Getting those guys on the payroll is extremely expensive.
Then, those lobbyists generally don’t just go off and bribe someone. They build and strengthen relationships. They know all the pain points that the politicians have, and they just make things easier. If a politician’s staffer is having trouble finding a good place to live in DC, the lobbyist knows a guy who knows a guy who can get them a great apartment.
Eventually, the lobbyist isn’t this guy who tries to get the politician to change some laws. He’s basically part of the team. So, when new legislation comes up, the whole team works on it together, including the lobbyist.
The end result is that the $5k or whatever is only the direct contribution to the politician’s re-election campaign or something. Most of the spending is hiring the lobbyist and paying all his/her various expenses that make them indispensable for the politician, so that they can step in at the right time.
They’re cheap because they fully believe in ideologies that screw everybody else. They’re not doing it for the cash but for their god.
Politicians get their jobs through an eagerness to bootlick capital.
If only voters were smart enough to vote for better people.
That’s the number we get to see.
Land of the fee™
Home of the slave.
for some perspective:
canada’s federal tax website lists all of the free services that you can utilize, and they even include NetFile so you don’t have to upload or submit any of your docuements.
i hear we’re looking for new provinces…
I’d vote to join a Canadian union if it ever shows up on my state’s ballot. It never will but I would. The South is a disgusting backwater of “divine” hatred.
your political system is already based on legalized bribery and this is where you draw the line? lmao. Lobbying has destroyed america for a century.
This is from 1889. Literally nothing has changed. Go back 1000 years and it’s the same fucking shit. Even 3000 years ago in Egypt. It’s always rich vs everybody else just in different outfits.
I’ve realized why this is the case.
Nations are modern-day fiefdoms. If you’re not a member of the ruling class, then you’re not supposed to have any say in how a nation is run. Modern politics is a song and dance around serving the ruling class as much as possible while convincing workers it’s in their best interests.
Class traitors need to be ostracized more often.
I want another Teddy Roosevelt in office.
Fuck man even after trust busting, those companies were then and still are stupid big and powerful and maddeningly enriching to the 1%
At least we have shiny toys now built on the backs of global labor exploitation. That’s cool.
We really should be moving to direct voting.
Representative democracies are tool of the ruling class to subvert control from the working class.
The fact <0.00001% of the people you come across mention direct voting in a democracy should be an indicator at how successful the ruling class has been at controlling the narrative.
Karl Marx
The Civil War in France
Written: July 1870 - May 1871Nowhere do “politicians” form a more separate, powerful section of the nation than in North America. There, each of the two great parties which alternately succeed each other in power is itself in turn controlled by people who make a business of politics, who speculate on seats in the legislative assemblies of the Union as well as of the separate states, or who make a living by carrying on agitation for their party and on its victory are rewarded with positions.
Here we find here two great gangs of political speculators, who alternately take possession of the state power and exploit it by the most corrupt means and for the most corrupt ends – and the nation is powerless against these two great cartels of politicians, who are ostensibly its servants, but in reality exploit and plunder it.
Amen
Legalized bribery is only bad when the other team is in office. When your team is bribed, it’s handy so they can run again in 4 years. Just don’t ask them to do any campaign promises that go against their donors.
Fuck Intuit!
It’s a little late now, but don’t forget that FreeTaxUSA is free for federal and cheap for state. Also much less annoying to use than Intuit TurboTax. They don’t do those fake loading animations like “checking the best deal!” As if a computer can’t do like a billion of those a second.
If I had to guess, this is a holdover from the 90s where people didn’t trust a quick calculation, and probably doubted the application was properly choosing the standard or itemized deductions.
Usually it’s to fool people into thinking something is happening when nothing is happening.
It’s also to make them think that something is more complicated than it actually is.
MyFreeTaxes.org has been what I’ve used. Sponsored by United Way and EzPz. Only catch is that it only works up to a certain income level, but free state and federal filing as long as you’re under the threshold.
They don’t do those fake loading animations like “checking the best deal!”
This shit should be fucking illegal, especially with something like tax filing software.
Imagine paying to file taxes, lmao
Intuit has been doing this for a long time, just in case anyone was wondering why $1 million seems like a low bribe. And it goes beyond preventing you from filing your taxes for free, with one of their goals being to make it as much of a pain in the ass as possible, so you are too frustrated to do it yourself.
This if from a 2019 Pro Publica article:
But the success of TurboTax rests on a shaky foundation, one that could collapse overnight if the U.S. government did what most wealthy countries did long ago and made tax filing simple and free for most citizens.
For more than 20 years, Intuit has waged a sophisticated, sometimes covert war to prevent the government from doing just that, according to internal company and IRS documents and interviews with insiders. The company unleashed a battalion of lobbyists and hired top officials from the agency that regulates it. From the beginning, Intuit recognized that its success depended on two parallel missions: stoking innovation in Silicon Valley while stifling it in Washington. Indeed, employees ruefully joke that the company’s motto should actually be “compromise without integrity.”
Internal presentations lay out company tactics for fighting “encroachment,” Intuit’s catchall term for any government initiative to make filing taxes easier — such as creating a free government filing system or pre-filling people’s returns with payroll or other data the IRS already has. “For a decade proposals have sought to create IRS tax software or a ReturnFree Tax System; All were stopped,” reads a confidential 2007 PowerPoint presentation from an Intuit board of directors meeting. The company’s 2014-15 plan included manufacturing “3rd-party grass roots” support. “Buy ads for op-eds/editorials/stories in African American and Latino media,” one internal PowerPoint slide states.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
Trump could have held the Saudis up for $50 billion on Inauguration Day 2016. Five minutes with the ambassador and he could have walked away with plenty of loot.
Yosemite Sam could have figured it out.
Arab governments have been paying tributes for decades and hosting US troops all in exchange for the uncertain guarantee of not being turned into another Iraq or Libya. Any more extraction and the US risks them aligning with Russia or China instead. The mobs know that they shouldn’t bankrupt those who pay them protection money.
True, but $50 billion wouldn’t break the bank for the Saudis. Moreover, Trump’s recent actions show that he doesn’t really care about anything more than 15 minutes in the future.
The Saudis maintain a welfare state that’s the source for their legitimacy. They can’t tighten the belt on their citizens. It will break more than just the bank.
How many private airplanes and yachts do the princes have?
They could cut down to seventeen harems each and still have enough to pay off Trump.
It wouldn’t have to be a lump sum either.
Stock market manipulation or a similar scam would put the same amount in his pocket.
Aligning with China is looking cheaper by the day. It isn’t like Trump will be president for life, and even if, it isn’t like his dynasty will dominate US politics forever, and even if, it isn’t like the US will be mighty forever.
People keep talking about the American Empire falling.
Be careful what you wish for.
When the USSR fell there was a decade of genocide in Europe, followed by kleptocracy that makes the old KGB look sedate.
The US Navy has about a dozen nuclear aircraft carriers and three times as many nuclear subs.
The US used nukes and committed genocide even when it was rising, so doing so on the way out is characteristic. And no it doesn’t scare me, I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
Some of this is about accepting bribes. A lot more is simply ideology.
Trump’s people do not believe the IRS should exist and they are trying to dismantle it. DirectFile is just low hanging fruit, intended to make people more frustrated with tax filing and more easy to radicalized in an attempt dismantle and replace with tariffs.
Like, this is a real decades long project that goes way beyond Trump. Abolishing the income tax was Goldwater’s wet dream.
I agree with you that the Project 2025 folks are important, but I’m talking about Trump in particular.
The shoes, the NFTs, and the crypto schemes are all about fleecing his own people.
There was a lottery where the top prize was dinner at the white House with POTUS. They ran it for months and there was never a single winner.
I think he really likes stealing from poor people. Either that or he’s too chicken to go toe to toe with someone who might hit back.
Add to that that Grover Norquist runs an organization called Americans for Tax Reform. GOP politicians all have to sign a pledge with them that they will never vote for a tax increase or for anything to make filing taxes easier.
Supposedly, this is because if taxes are easy to file, Americans won’t hate them enough and it makes it easier for the government to raise taxes. But, it’s awfully convenient that this is exactly what Intuit, H&R Block, etc. all want too.
I don’t you understand who actually controls the petrol-dollar.
Turbo tax made 1.6 BILLION in income. And that’s not enough. They need to lobby and change the landscape of the countries tax system to generate even more profit on top of the profit they already made.
This isn’t capitalism anymore this is something else entirely. It’s a metal disorder. A disease.
Capitalism demands that line must always go up.
Line goes up means businesses are taking advantage of customers.
Line goes down means customers are taking advantage of businesses.
Why are customers cheering when line goes up and angry when line goes down? Oh yeah, they’re useful idiots.
Well also, most people have been forced into a retirement system that makes line go up make everyday person happy. Cutting off the nose to something…
This isn’t capitalism anymore this is something else entirely.
That’s the thing, it is capitalism. It’s always been about those who have more exploiting those who have less.
The problem is this generation of workers has been duped into believing that corporate profits are a good thing, rather than an indication of workers getting taken advantage of.
It’s all bass-ackwards by design. I stopped trying to find rhyme or reason and just settled on “most people are dumb as shit.”
And this is just taxes. Capital also do this with our health, water, air, etc.
There’s… there’s a tax on taxes??
They might call it something like a convenience fee.
Million dollar is practically nothing for this kind of company, they will net billions from this.
Even their corruption is incompetent.
Historically senators and representatives side with companies who’ve only given them thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in contributions. It’s very cheap to buy a vote.
Though often there’s also the understanding that a career spent supporting them will be rewarded with a cushy, high-paying lobbying job once they leave politics. Or paid speaking gigs if you’re the President.
It’s not incompetent to give someone a penny and have them give you back $100. That’s a great investment. So I would have to say their corruption is very confident if they can give a million dollar bribe and get back a billion dollars of revenue.
I meant that the administration (i.e. Trump) is incompetent for selling the country for pennies.
Art of the deal baby
I think they mean the government corruption. How cheap it is to buy votes. You can buy a Supreme Court justice with an RV.
