r2i forum

rvomyet;690615It looks like its economy is structured to benefit corporations and therefore its shareholders. For example IRS can easily create a free tax calculation and efiling option but lobbying by Intuit, H&R is killing it completely

Your question is misplaced. In a true capitalism, government has no role in economic activities. If tax filing is a business just like any other business one can argue government should not provide this service for free.

Your question should be "Can Laisse Faire capitalism " be allowed for tax filing or is tax filing a welfare activity that should be borne by the government.

I think the fundamental question here is "in free market capitalism, can the powerful industry people be allowed to lobby govt officials for making decisions that is in their best economic interest". This activity seems to be enshrined in the US constitution (someone correct me if I am wrong). To me this sounds like legalized bribing. there is clearly no free market in healthcare industry - otherwise we wouldn't have this kind of runaway pricing.

I think this should be the real debate rather than the tax filing software as an example.

Is it ok to allow corps to lobby congress since it is legal in this country?

Not to mention, its legal to spend billions as dark money to influence elections, since its considered free speech.

I think to me its a trivial issue, with 60% of electorates having no critical thinking skill due to a crappy education system, thats a real problem, since people make the system and if we dont make them smarter, the system will always stink.

sark;690652I think the fundamental question here is "in free market capitalism, can the powerful industry people be allowed to lobby govt officials for making decisions that is in their best economic interest". This activity seems to be enshrined in the US constitution (someone correct me if I am wrong). To me this sounds like legalized bribing. there is clearly no free market in healthcare industry - otherwise we wouldn't have this kind of runaway pricing.

greyfri;690662

There is absolutely no non political reason the US Fed government cannot provide prefilled returns itself for individuals with simple income 1099-INTs, W-2s and the like. That would account for a lot of people, perhaps even the majority of taxpayers. But the software providers (Intuit, H&R Block) don't like it, CPAs/ tax preparers don't like it and big chains like Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block don't like it, and they form a potent bloc.

A few years back Rick Santorum, Senator (and Presidential candidate) of PA tried to pass a bill making it illegal for the NWS to maintain it's own web site to give out weather info. The idea was to benefit Accuweather, a private forecaster based in PA. Banning the IRS from prefilling simple returns is no different.

Yes. But, this is all about lobbying, right? What has it to do with capitalism as the thread starter says?

There are lot more examples of lobbying.

Corporations dont want subsidized healthcare
Car companies dont want subways

etc etc...

For crying out loud, FAA was not even willing to declare that 737 max is unsafe due to lobbying.

But already Republicans and right wing nuts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity are yelling that government should not do anything. Nothing should be regulated and power to corporations.


To me, $40 per year is peanuts as far as tax is concerned and I dont care about IRS not providing the tax software free. If I have to pick my fight I would rather focus on healthcare, clean energy, environment preservation, predatory lending etc with common good/public welfare in mind than for this cause.

Lobbying w.r.t following is of more concern for me now.
Today, electric vehicles are so popular because of the rebates introduced by Obam admin and this admin is focusing on bringing back fuels and beefing up oil exploration etc. That is a big concern for me.
Current admin is rolling back regulations on coal and other pollutants. Concern for me.
Current admin rolling back bank regulations. Concern for me.
Current admin vs net neutrality. Concern for me.


[quote]
In India (and in some other Western countries), the online return is done by Income Tax Department and it does provide pre-filled returns for items that are already deducted by TDS. That accounts for a lot of people. It makes my filing in India much easier. The Indian government runs on deficit, so do most Euro government. The populations of those countries don't seem to have a problem with this.
[/quote]
Yeah right! what is the quality of these forms? I file Georgia tax using Pdf form provided by Georgia tax department and it is horrible that I get audited for no reason. If I dont enter value in some column, then it does not take it as 0 and there is an audit. There is no means to put "-" sign for negative number and there is an audit.

layman;690667Yes. But, this is all about lobbying, right? What has it to do with capitalism as the thread starter says?

Probably not much. I just commented because it's one of my pet peeves that India IT department gives you 3 ways to do your tax return: online, via downloaded Java App, via downloaded Excel spreadsheet, and the US can't even provide an extension online !