The lucrative tax prep industry has pursued a decades-long lobbying campaign to block the IRS from developing a free online tax filing service.
by David Moore, Sludge
As the tax preparation industry fights against the Internal Revenue Service offering a free e-filing system, one of its lobbying groups has hired three new lobbyists with ties to the congressional committees that oversee the IRS.
The lobbyists were hired on May 1, shortly before the IRS announced on May 16 that the Treasury Department has directed it to take a long-awaited next step and develop a free e-filing tool, in what it calls a “limited pilot” for the 2024 tax season. The announcement came on the same day the IRS submitted a feasibility study of such a system to Congress, which was required by a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that Congress passed last year. They are planning to lobby on “Issues related to tax administration and tax-time financial products,” according to a Senate filing.
The new lobbyists work for the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and were retained by American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights (ACTR), a trade association founded in 2011 by several tax prep companies. The group’s members include the two largest industry players in Intuit, owner of TurboTax, and H&R Block, as well as Republic Bank, Liberty Tax Services, and software company TaxSlayer.
Recent Posts
While the U.S. Doubles Down on Fossil Fuels, Other Countries Are Charting a Path Away From Them
Take Action Now The recent Santa Marta conference in Colombia was the world’s first diplomatic conference expressly dedicated to phasing out fossil…
The Right Wants to Erase Minority Representation. We’ll Register Millions to Stop Them.
Take Action Now Their insult will arouse us—and put Republican incumbents’ own seats at risk.By Yusef D. Jackson, The Nation When the right-wing…
Who’s Funding the Super PAC Attacking Graham Platner?
Take Action Now A flood of billionaire money is pouring into Maine’s Senate race to stop a populist challenger.By Donald Shaw, The Nation A super…
Decades of Congressional Inaction Contributed to Illegal U.S.-Israeli War on Iran
Take Action Now Congress can limit further escalation with Iran via the War Powers Resolution, appropriations, and impeachment.By Hanieh Jodat,…