{"id":11720,"date":"2024-02-28T15:15:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T15:15:53","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"My-Turn-Free-tax-filing-is-a-crucial-step-toward-unrigging-our-economy-54197661\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=11720","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Free tax filing is a crucial step toward unrigging our economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Internal<\/a>
Internal Revenue Service tax forms are seen on Feb. 13, 2019.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\n Susan Harley is the managing director for Public Citizen\u2019s Congress Watch division. This op-ed commentary was distributed by OtherWords.org. <\/em> <\/p>\n

Each year many Americans pay a steep cost when doing their taxes. It\u2019s not just the money people shell out to use software to file taxes online, but also the time spent and the stress that comes with worrying an honest mistake will be held against them.<\/p>\n

Luckily, change is in the air this spring. Eligible filers in a dozen states will finally have a true public option this tax season: a new free, online, mobile-friendly software from the IRS called Direct File<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the next several weeks the Direct File pilot will be ramping up in the states where it\u2019s being offered: Arizona, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.<\/p>\n

Available in both English and Spanish, the new software pilot is starting small and will only be available to people with simple taxes who file with only limited types of income, credits, and deductions. While the Direct File tool won\u2019t be available to everyone right away, it\u2019s a crucial step toward unrigging our economy and protecting people\u2019s pocketbooks.<\/p>\n

Buoyed by funding the IRS received<\/a> through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Direct File pilot is another example of the Biden administration\u2019s commitment to tackle junk fees that chip away at people\u2019s economic well-being and to foster a government that better serves the American people.<\/p>\n

Direct File is also a recognition that struggling families shouldn\u2019t have to pay money they can\u2019t afford just to do their civic duty. The tool aims to make it easier for folks to get the refund they\u2019re owed and to address the problem of one in five eligible recipients<\/a> of the Earned Income Tax Credit not claiming it.<\/p>\n

While there has technically been a Free File<\/a> program at the IRS for decades, it has not lived up to its promise. Only a tiny percentage of eligible filers, about 2 percent<\/a>, use it. And there was a high-profile data breach where corporate partners in the program shared sensitive tax information<\/a> with Meta (formerly called Facebook) and Google.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, has not been taking this budding threat to its behemoth earnings<\/a> laying down. It\u2019s poured a record amount<\/a> into its lobbying, almost a million dollars<\/a> in just the past three months.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s going to take more than lobbying and a Super Bowl ad<\/a> to revive Intuit\u2019s tarnished image.<\/p>\n

Intuit entered into a $141 million settlement<\/a> last year to resolve claims that it steered low-income customers to paid products when they were eligible to use free services. And the Federal Trade Commission ruled<\/a> in January that the company\u2019s advertising about free tax prep was deceptive.<\/p>\n

The Direct File tool is expected to be live to the public in those 12 states in early to mid-March. That means that this St. Patrick\u2019s Day, some lucky filers will find a pot of gold under the rainbow \u2014 around $150 or more on average back in their pockets that they didn\u2019t have to give to a greedy corporation just to use software to help them file their taxes online.<\/p>\n

Direct File is the first brick in the road to return-free filing that many of our international peers enjoy, where they simply approve their pre-calculated return prepared by the government.<\/p>\n

Like a garden, though, Direct File will only flourish with care and attention. Let\u2019s make sure it doesn\u2019t die on the vine! Help spread the word, check your eligibility<\/a> at directfile.irs.gov<\/a>, and visit act.citizen.org\/page\/62332\/petition\/<\/a> to get reminded when it\u2019s go time for Direct File in your state.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan Harley is the managing director for Public Citizen\u2019s Congress Watch division. This op-ed commentary was distributed by OtherWords.org. Each year many Americans pay a steep cost when doing their taxes. It\u2019s not just the money people shell out to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":582,"featured_media":11721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,510],"tags":[263,505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[711],"class_list":["post-11720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opening","tag-opinion","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/43033949-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11722,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11720\/revisions\/11722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11720"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=11720"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=11720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}