Hi,

Tax prep corporations have been bombarding people with their annoying
commercials for a couple months now. What’s different? The Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) told TurboTax that it has to stop lying.^1

The FTC said TurboTax had to stop claiming that its service was free in
its commercials since a whopping two-thirds of all consumers had to pay
for the service. It’s deceptive advertising, plain and simple. It’s no
wonder why the tax prep industry has spent $90 million on corporate
lobbying over the last 20 years^2 on things including trying to block a
free, electronic tax filing tool for the IRS.

Now that the IRS is trying out a free filing tool called Direct File in 12
states this year, we know tax prep companies are going to go all out to
protect their profits and try to crush this free tool from the
government.^3

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: Corporations shouldn’t profit off of our tax
filings. Take the IRS free, public electronic tax filing program over the
finish line to every American.

ADD YOUR NAME

After years of TurboTax’s misleading TurboTax advertising (and potential
fraud) to protect its profits, the corporate giant isn’t just going to let
the IRS bring a free tool to all Americans without a fight.

TurboTax will continue its PR campaigns and lobbying to fight the IRS tool
because IRS Direct File will let the average American taxpayer hang on to
some of their hard-earned money, so that corporate executives have a
little less money for mansions and private jets.

For everyday Americans, this could be a huge breakthrough — but the IRS
could be facing the tax prep industry’s fiercest lobbying campaign yet,
given how close the government is to making TurboTax obsolete.

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: American taxpayers should be able to file taxes for
free!

Thanks for taking action,

Joey and the team at Demand Progress

[ [link removed] ]DONATE

Sources:

 1. New York Times, “TurboTax Can No Longer Advertise Products as Free,
F.T.C. Says,” [ [link removed] ]January 23, 2024.
 2. American Prospect, “Can the IRS Beat the Tax Prep Industry at Its Own
Game?” [ [link removed] ]October 20, 2023.
 3. Internal Revenue Service, “IRS Direct File pilot,” [ [link removed] ]March 19, 2024.
----------

PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (<a href="[link removed]">DemandProgress.org</a>) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on <b><a href="[link removed]">Facebook</a></b> or <b><a href="[link removed]">Twitter</a>.</b>

You can unsubscribe from this list at any time: [link removed]