Tomorrow would be Tax Day in America, but it falls on God Friday, so it’s been moved to Monday. we’ve paid a CPA to do our taxes because at times we’ve had a complicated filing.
I remember the days when my grandfather did the whole family’s taxes. Now, I would guess, most people who have straightforward filing use Turbo Tax. I knew that Intuit owned Turbo Tax. I did not know it was owned by H&R Block. That seems like a monopoly to me.
Now I am aware of that and Congressional candidate from New York, Melanie D’Arrigo made everyone aware of this on Instagram today:
How on Earth is it legal to spend any money, much less 6.7 freaking MILLION dollars, to make it harder and more expensive for Americans to file their tax returns? That’s what they’re doing. They’re paying Congress so you can’t have an easy and free way to file your taxes.
And get this: per taxpolicycenter.org, “At last count, 36 countries, including Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, permit return-free filing for some taxpayers.” Britain has been doing it since 1940. 1940.
So, that’s most of the free world that let you file for free, with many (Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Iceland) having tax agency systems that do your taxes automatically, which lets your dispute the results if you think your report is incorrect.
The United States is behind the times and the world in so many regards all because of All Mighty Capitalism. We pay the most for healthcare and gun deaths because of capitalism. Now we have our tax system set up for the same reason. We can do better than this, but we won’t until lobbyists are eliminated.
As always, follow the money.
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