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Intuit Still Fighting Government Tax Software
Back in January we discussed Intuit's opposition to California's free, convenient software to file tax returns. TechDirt noticed a recent article in the LA Times about Intuit's continued lobbying efforts to get rid of those programs. Quoting:
"Most importantly, Intuit is offering nothing that California doesn't already have. The state has arranged with other tax software providers to do exactly what Intuit proposes: Help low-income folks fill in and file state and federal returns for free — although Intuit refuses to participate. It apparently only wants in on this deal if the state knocks out its free programs, thereby creating a larger potential paying customer base for TurboTax. Not surprisingly, Intuit has been greasing the wheels in order to try to sell its scheme in California. Since 2005, public filings indicate that Intuit has spent $1.25 million on lobbyists in the state. Over the same period, it contributed an additional $2.12 million to statewide campaigns, including more than $1 million to state Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), a ReadyReturn foe who is running for state controller. In all, Intuit has doled out cash to nearly 120 politicians. The impact has been clear, even if Intuit hasn't gotten its way — yet. As documented in The Times, in 2009 California Republican legislators held back their votes on 20 bills in an attempt to do the corporation's bidding and force the abolition of ReadyReturn and CalFile. They didn't succeed in killing the tax programs, but they did kill funding for domestic violence shelters, police and fire departments, and prevention of swine flu outbreaks."
Virginia used to have a web-based filing program, iFile. After successfully running the program for four or five years, the legislature voted to do away with it this year, even though I'm sure it had paid for itself and was generating significant cost savings for the state. The sad part to me is that most Virginians seemed to have been unaware of it, as I haven't found anyone else who is even remotely bothered by it. They already pay for Tax Cut or something like that. <sigh>
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
Have you actually READ the FairTax languange? You might want to start at http://www.fairtax.org
FairTax is a truly FAIR system. YOU, the taxpayer, control both HOW MUCH tax you pay and WHEN you pay it.
The prebate that included takes care of argument about taxing food and essential services up to the poverty line (wherever that gets set at). The argument about the "percentage of disposable income"...
1) The overall percentage of income paid would go DOWN dramatically for the majority -- and EVERYONE pays. No more "hidden" economy or untaxed areas. The drug dealer who buys the $80K Escalade would actually contribute to the tax base for a change.
2) Those buying more expensive items would pay MORE. A person buying a $15K vehicle would pay far LESS tax then someone buying a $80K vehicle. And someone buying a USED vehicle would pay a whopping $0 in tax!
3) The removal of all of the payroll taxes, etc. would mean people would be getting ALL of their income. THEY get to decide what to purchase -- they can buy used and save the tax completely.
4) There are NO deductions. period. It is a 100% consumption-based system -- saying anything else means its NOT the FairTax.
I agree that the lobbyist and others "invested" in the current tax code will do their best to kill it -- and the government certainly will fight to keep their hidden social-engineering and pandering system alive. Your disinformation and libel are just helping them along.
I.e., what was "killing the tax program" doing in bills funding "domestic violence shelters, police and fire departments, and prevention of swine flu outbreaks"?
Neither you not the GP understood what TFA was saying.
The Rs held 20 bills hostage in an attempt to force Dems to kill ReadyReturn and CalFile.
Democrats said "fuck you," so California Republicans killed the hostages.
Since Obama & the Dems rolled into office, Republicans have been doing a lot of hostage taking on both the local and national level.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
This is a falsehood. The IRS will calculate your taxes for you, you just need to provide the necessary data (since they don't collect it as a matter of course).
If you choose, you can report a minimum of data, and though you will miss out on some deductions/credits, you don't have to perform a single calculation.
Claiming that the government refuses to tell you how much you owe is a falsehood.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
You realize that almost half of this country pays no income tax whatsoever, right? It seems silly to think that the upper-brackets are getting the sweetheart deal when nearly half of the working population pays nothing.
They pay no income tax, they pay plenty of other taxes: sales taxes, excise taxes on fuel, etc. And those make up a much larger percentage of their income than for wealthy people. And when you're talking about very high income individuals, they are earning more through capital gains and other sources taxed at lower rates than the upper income tax brackets anyway, than through income subject to the income tax (and FICA tax for that matter).
"Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
It won't get you "into trouble", but you may owe a 10% penalty on the underreported taxes if the amount is large enough.
www.fairtax.org.
A famously broken model. There's an old saying: if you are an ordinary person who buys a football club's shirt as a souvenir, you pay 23% extra in sales tax; if you are a billionaire who buys a football club as a souvenir, you don't. But unlike today, that discriminatory sales tax the whole basis of "fairtax"'s proposed tax system -- the billionaire never needs to worry about corporation tax, CGT, or anything else ever taking a dime from his pocket. Meanwhile, there is already a long history of people pushing purchases through companies (turning them into fringe benefits) to avoid paying tax, and "fairtax.org"s proposals are even more open to that kind of rorting. Personal cars are taxed at increased rates; but company cars are 100% tax-free. Guess what happens to the number of companies providing their employees company cars "for business reasons"? And as everybody floods through the loopholes, the tax base moves to punishing only those who companies give the least tax-avoidance help to: ie, the poor, the unemployed, and the retired.