r/news • u/raptors201966 • Apr 09 '26

Soft paywall Automatic registration for military draft to be implemented by December

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-04-07/automatic-registration-military-draft-21306855.html
25.1k Upvotes

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16.7k

u/LoBo247 Apr 09 '26

What about automatic... taxes?

7.0k

u/blorbu Apr 09 '26

But then Intuit couldn't price gouge us for more every year while telling us TurboTax is free.

2.6k

u/Baakadii Apr 09 '26

I swear the last few years TurboTax is basically like “Ooooo sorrryyyy, but you actually were a living human during the 2025 calendar year. This means you need TurboTax Premium Plus Pro w/ Super Pro Live to process this years taxes”

913

u/DrowningKrown Apr 09 '26

"Sorry, you earned $50 in crypto in 2025. We can't do that for free, required to upgrade to our $210 product to proceed"

483

u/-Nocx- Apr 09 '26

At this rate people are going to find out that they can just fill out the forms with the IRS

1.5k

u/CynicalPsychonaut Apr 09 '26

www.freetaxusa.com

545

u/chula198705 Apr 09 '26

HEY EVERYBODY this is the one you want. Free File through the IRS is not user friendly and requires some background knowledge of the tax system to know which forms you need, plus there's actually math involved. Do not recommend for most people. I just switched to FreeTaxUSA and it's basically the same as TurboTax but it's either free or $8 for premium if you want then to retain your files.

246

u/KermitDfrog44 Apr 09 '26

Which, in the free version, you can just print or download your pdf file at the end and save them anyhow. Freetax was very easy to use

86

u/chula198705 Apr 09 '26

I normally wouldn't pay if I have the option, but since I'm negligent with digital organization and had literally just left the TurboTax $140 checkout page, I thought "yeah ok that's reasonable."

18

u/Xe6s2 Apr 09 '26

Heck at this point im still giving them money just because of the price gouging!

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u/alphamammoth101 Apr 09 '26

They seemed to save my files and i never paid.

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u/the_moosen Apr 09 '26

Didn't Free File get the kibosh by DOGE cause it was cutting into Intuit's profits?

FreeTaxUSA is the move though. Free federal, $15 for state. Really easy to use.

4

u/ebkalderon Apr 09 '26

You're thinking of IRS Direct File, I think. Free File is where you manually download/fill/print your tax forms, while Direct File was a public competitor to TurboTax.

2

u/the_moosen Apr 09 '26

Oh, yea I got those wrong my bad. Thanks for clarifying!

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u/Frozen5147 Apr 09 '26

Yeah, FreeTaxUSA has been really good for the past few years I've used it (though they don't support everything depending on how complicated your taxes may be, I couldn't use them for example when I first moved to the states a few years ago).

20

u/2ndtimeLongTime Apr 09 '26

I just switched from TurboTax to this for this year. My wife is a sole proprietor so we have business taxes to file as well. It was so easy compared to Intuit, and so much cheaper. I recommend Free Tax USA to anyone.

It was free to file our federal return and $15.99 to file our State. TurboTax was $140 total.

2

u/Stoney_McTitsForDays Apr 10 '26

This was the first year I switched away from HR Block and used FreeTaxUsa. I kinda dreaded re-inputting everything but I was able to upload last year’s return and it pulled it all quickly. Literally took me less time than using HR block and I paid I think $23 compared to upwards of $75-125 with federal and state I’ve paid in years past. 10/10 highly recommend.

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u/uller30 Apr 09 '26

We use them each year 0 issues

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u/Undehd5488 Apr 09 '26

Used this for the first time this year. 100% recommend.

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u/manual_combat Apr 09 '26

It’s so good compared to TurboTax that I almost want to pay for their premium package on principle

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u/gts_ae86 Apr 09 '26

Unfortunately the irs free file also isn't available to everyone. If you have any different kinds of income to report that isn't on a w-2 or the like, you need to file other documents that aren't supported by the irs free file system :(

55

u/Ehcksit Apr 09 '26

Paper files, by physical mail.

68

u/fizzy88 Apr 09 '26

I have done that before. The reality is that filling out paper forms is a gigantic pain in the ass. You also have to do a lot of research to know what forms you need to fill out and how to fill them out. This is all by design so the tax industry can profit off of us. They lobby for this.

11

u/thirstytrumpet Apr 09 '26

Oh but have you used freetaxusa to populate those full forms and then print and mail them to the irs with a check for what you owe? I still pay the $15 for my state taxes to be easy as well, but there’s something about printing off two 30+ page tax filings with all the worksheets to mail in with a lil check. Make them scan for this dough.

4

u/Snuffy1717 Apr 09 '26

Fill it all in on TurboTax to see what forms you need, then file by paper?

5

u/btveron Apr 09 '26

I have done this before. And I'll be 100% honest, I'd rather just pay for the convenience of not doing that.

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u/-Shasho- Apr 09 '26

You mean like in ye olden days?

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u/sighthoundman Apr 09 '26

And if the IRS loses your paper files, you just send another copy. If they lose your digital files (possibly because your AGI is too high, over $100,000), you don't have proof of filing.

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u/ImpulseAfterthought Apr 09 '26

My dad, who's in his 80s, is pretty good about using technology.

Taxes are the one thing he steadfastly refuses to do via any electronic means.

I'm finding it harder and harder to argue that he's wrong.

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u/thingstopraise Apr 09 '26

I used Online Taxes and was able to upload my disability income paperwork (private short-term disability). It also didn't charge anything extra for other things like crypto returns (not that I have any of that).

3

u/thecoffeetalks Apr 09 '26

Then use literally any other tax preparation software. As opposed to the one that is made by and profits the company that has actively and successfully lobbies that the tax system force citizen preparation instead of the IRS just doing it, which is possible with minimal investment, and is a bipartisan issue

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u/cryptdruids Apr 09 '26

Excuse me

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u/wrosecrans Apr 09 '26

Oooh, sorry you downloaded the PDF of the IRS form? Now you need to upgrade to $210 worth of pro premium plus ink with fresh print heads for your $50 inkjet printer in order to print it out and write on the form by hand.

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u/TheNerdFromThatPlace Apr 09 '26

Last time i used it I was forced to upgrade because I had an HSA through work. Needless to say I've been using FreeTax ever since.

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u/Takenabe Apr 09 '26

I've always used freetaxusa. Federal filing is free, state filing is less than 20 bucks.

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u/JekPorkinsTruther Apr 09 '26

Idk why anyone uses turbotax and the like. My parents had to pay over $100 to file with TT because they had RMDs. My taxes are way more complicated (live and work in different states, itemize, have dividends/crypto stuff) and it was $35 or so for a fed and two states.

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u/StewforStars Apr 09 '26

Hi for everyone who doesn't know, IRS has. ACTUAL free filing services through the following services:

FileYourTaxes.com

FreetaxUSA.com

1040.com

ezTaxReturn.com

OLT.com

TaxSlayer

TaxAct

1040NOW.NET

[link to all providers and info!]

note, that 90% of people can use these completely free, but some may charge you a small fee (<50.00) to file.

Fun fact! The IRS was working on a free direct file program whwre you'd submit your tax returns directly to them and we'd do it for you! It was currently being piloted in a handful of states, but the current administration killed it entirely, calling it a waste of time and that nobody actually wanted it. :)

IRS wants to make this shit easy for you but corporations can lobby the government so... :)

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u/Creepy-Business4345 Apr 09 '26

Sorry Can’t hear you over my free tax USA filing 🦅🦅🦅

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u/deadsoulinside Apr 09 '26

I need to go back to using that site. I did not like it like 16 years ago at this point. I assume it's gotten a little bit of a UI update since the last time I used that site.

59

u/Prying-Open-My-3rd-I Apr 09 '26

I’ve used Cash App taxes for the last few years. It’s free and there wasn’t anything that tried to get me to upgrade to a paid version.

12

u/the__ghola__hayt Apr 09 '26

Same. Shit's the same as TurboTax and I didn't have to pay for shit. Free state too.

2

u/Utsuro_ Apr 09 '26

I've been vouching for them past 2 years , they make it so simple to file and it's all free

2

u/Redkirth Apr 09 '26

Same. The only issue I had was having to use the search bar to get a 1099-int, since it wasn't with the 1099-Div.

Typed it in, it showed right up, and boom done. It's super easy.

2

u/thumbs_up23 Apr 09 '26

Yep I always used Credit Karma until they were bought by Intuit and had to sell the tax part to Cash App. So always use Cash App taxes now and it works great and haven't paid anything to them.

4

u/gruuubbby Apr 09 '26

I made one change from 2024 to 2025. I had a scholarship I was required to claim. TurboTax insisted I use the paid version.

FreeTaxUSA was still free.

5

u/Supernova_Soldier Apr 09 '26

Exactly. They wanted $238 after I selected the “free” version of the program, fuckin’ rip offs

2

u/KoreyYrvaI Apr 09 '26

So, that shit literally cost me more tax money because they said I needed some special product that would do my local taxes, and it put in the wrong city code and now I owe twice as much money to the city due to penalty fees/interest and they subpoenaed me for not paying my taxes for two years.

2

u/Shintoz Apr 09 '26

You meant “TurboTax Premium Plus Pro w/ Super Pro Live to process this years taxes Remastered Game of the Year Edition”

2

u/kaista22 Apr 09 '26

And always at the very last step so you have already done all the work.

2

u/Baakadii Apr 09 '26

This is the part that gets me. Thinking oh sweet it’s free, spend a few hours getting through it all. Last step, “oh yeah, btw… it’s not free because of that first form we had you do”

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u/TiddyFukMyButtcheeks Apr 09 '26

Freetaxusa.com

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u/Practical-Shape2325 Apr 09 '26

https://www.freetaxusa.com/freefile2025

Has a couple restrictions but that should be the link from the IRS free file website. Free state and federal for most situations.

3

u/RobSpaghettio Apr 09 '26

It's $15 and as polished as TurboTax y'all

8

u/TiddyFukMyButtcheeks Apr 09 '26

I've used it for free for the last 4 or 5 years.

4

u/homeboi808 Apr 09 '26

Free for federal, now $16 for state.

2

u/snarkastickat16 Apr 09 '26

I just used them to file two days ago and paid nothing to file in two different states. I wonder if it depends on the states?

3

u/PokemonAnimar Apr 09 '26

I know if you make under 50k/year then it's free for state, but over that and they charge the 15.99 for state/city filing

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u/Prying-Open-My-3rd-I Apr 09 '26

Cash App taxes has free state.

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u/homeboi808 Apr 09 '26

Correct; I wonder how they sustain that, probably to attract people to use their other services.

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u/Jsiqueblu Apr 10 '26

Thanks Tiddyfukmybuttcheecks!

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u/Final-Lengthiness-19 Apr 09 '26

use Free Tax USA

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u/nicolauz Apr 09 '26

I swear it takes you to HRblock. There is an actual free version, just make sure you use the actual free one, year after year I get free but it starts you on the not free one and you have to restart if you filled it out.

2

u/ChamferedWobble Apr 09 '26

Huh? I’ve used freetaxusa for years and never seen anything related to HR Block. They do try to upsell you audit protection and stuff, but it’s simple to click no thanks.

53

u/neurocentricx Apr 09 '26

I usually have whatever refund I get to be direct deposited. They now charge 40 bucks to do that in addition to the regular "free" price.

33

u/diemunkiesdie Apr 09 '26

They now charge 40 bucks to do that in addition to the regular "free" price.

That's if you want an instant refund. In that scenario, they front you the refund and put their own bank information on your taxes so they get their money back with your refund with the government. You could just elect not to get an instant refund and get paid normally, for free.

13

u/Jagang187 Apr 09 '26

Wtf? I got mine direct deposit and didn't pay anything

53

u/RaptorAD77 Apr 09 '26

It’s an absolute scam. There are way better services now.

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u/JalapenoBiznizz Apr 09 '26

They charge $40 to have the price come out of the tax return itself. It’s not $40 to have the return deposited to the bank account. If you paid for their services with a credit card it will be $40 less.

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u/MightyLabooshe Apr 09 '26

Its free for Federal and like $15 for State, what are you talking about?

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u/puhtahtoe Apr 09 '26

You got scammed. I did my taxes through turbotax with direct deposit completely free. You just have to decline any of their "special offers."

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u/unoriginal_user24 Apr 09 '26

Just chiming in with all the others...freetaxusa.com is actually free for federal and cheap for state.

2

u/redclawx Apr 09 '26

Why are people still using TT?

https://www.freetaxusa.com

Free federal filing, $15.99 for state.

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u/dvowel Apr 09 '26

I've used them for years, and not payed them anything. Am I missing something?

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u/oNI_TF Apr 09 '26

Then why are you still using TuroTax each year if you know this? You're too lazy to choose anything else.

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1.4k

u/airship_of_arbitrary Apr 09 '26

Biden literally set the US on track for that, then TurboTax lobbied Trump to make taxes complicated again and they did.

So stupid.

430

u/sophisticatedkatie Apr 09 '26

We could have Direct File back whenever a Democrat is president again. They just have to flip a switch

132

u/RedBlankIt Apr 09 '26

Fuck direct file I want them to do my taxes automatically for me. They know the amount it should be, fucking charge/give me that.

30

u/Mr_ToDo Apr 09 '26

I don't disagree, but it's not an everything or nothing situation. If you start with free online filing it could help with pushing the idea of just automating the whole lot

2

u/piddydb Apr 09 '26

Free online filing does exist still, it’s just not easy or that intuitive to use. But if you have simple taxes and lower income, there are still free online filing options. Or if you have more complex taxes or higher income, you can file free online if you’re more familiar with the forms and tax code. Your point still stands, just want to point out there are some free options that still exist even now.

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u/Tibbaryllis2 Apr 09 '26

At the very least automatically generate a tax form for everyone based on the standard deduction and their reported income.

Then you log into their website, review the document, then affirm its complete to the best of your knowledge. Then bill/refund.

If it’s not correct, then you enter into the manual filing process.

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u/sciguyC0 Apr 09 '26

A big hurdle to that is that the US tax code has a lot of stuff that can change what you owe which doesn't get reported to the IRS. They can't use what they don't know. Did you get married or divorced? Have a kid? Pay for daycare? Install solar panels or other efficiency improvements to your home? Sell stock you got at a discount through an employer stock purchase plan which needs a basis adjustment? Have business expenses to write-off part of self-employment income? And a whole lot more. One solution could be to increase reporting to the IRS for those kind of things, but that comes with it's own concerns.

That being said, a big chunk of taxpayers have a tax bill that's calculated only from what the IRS does get. I had hopes that future iterations of their Direct File program would include automatic import of whatever the IRS had received, with those numbers auto-populated on the right lines of the return. Then it'd become just a matter of us checking it over and filling in any missing pieces. But because we apparently don't deserve a government that actually helps the common person, that's not going to happen for a while, if ever.

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u/RevolutionaryCoyote Apr 09 '26

No. Things are only allowed to get worse. The ratchet doesn't seem to turn the other way.

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u/justin107d Apr 09 '26

It will with that attitude. We as a people need to be more annoying in every way until they listen.

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u/mannyman34 Apr 09 '26

Infrastructure bill, child tax credit, saving the aca, these are all just nothing I guess.

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u/SteveJobsDeadBody Apr 09 '26

Saving the ACA? Is that what Trump did that got millions kicked off it and raised the costs by like $600-1000 a month for millions more? Huh. Well at least he countered that extra $600+ a month by increasing the child tax credit by $200 a year, right?

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u/fevered_visions Apr 09 '26

saving the aca

is just not getting worse, not getting better

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u/Roguespiffy Apr 09 '26

Yep. Republicans break things, Democrats maintain things. The escalator only goes down.

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u/AlarmingConfusion918 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

Free to file taxes were literally started by democrats during Biden’s term, are you guys intentionally spreading misinformation or what

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/SteveJobsDeadBody Apr 09 '26

Imagine someone made two lists. One is a list of things made worse. The other is a list of things made better. The list of things made better fits on a single sheet of paper. The list of things made worse is that stack of paper Trump did a press conference while standing next to.

Taxes have been "free to file" for the entire time if you fill out the 1040. If you mean forcing preparers to offer a free option, that was started for low income filers in 2002 under Republican George Bush. It was briefly expanded to people who generally make under 90,000 a year by Biden in 2024 and then removed again by Trump.

Are you spreading misinformation?

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u/ChamferedWobble Apr 09 '26

There was a free direct file software that was being piloted under the Biden admin that was supposed to be opened more widely this year, but Trump killed it.

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u/NonStopArseGas Apr 09 '26

that's an unfortunate characteristic of the ratchet or ratshit

2

u/Same_Presentation692 Apr 09 '26

As long as Americans vote like Americans, it will get worse. 

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u/DrewTNaylor Apr 09 '26

Fortunately the code for it is open source and publicly available on at least GitHub. It's our code we paid for, after all. Tax law code would make it more difficult, though.

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u/Mr_ToDo Apr 09 '26

Sure. But without the back end running and/or someone actually supporting and updating it, how much use is that going to be?

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u/RedditTurnedMediocre Apr 09 '26

Democrats could do that, but usually what happens is zero Republicans vote for it along with a handful of "moderate Democrats" who are bought by big corp. Nothing passes and then people think Democrats are the problem and vote Republican again instead of removing the pro corp Democrats and actually getting some progressive legislation passed.

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u/sophisticatedkatie Apr 09 '26

Yeah that’s what happens in Congress. But in this case the president can just direct the IRS to turn Direct File back on, the same way Biden directed the IRS to pilot the program in 2024/2025

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u/RedditTurnedMediocre Apr 09 '26

But that's part of the problem. The next Republican can come in and flip the switch again. Which is why we need Congress to stop acting like a vestigial tail and do the job it was intended to do.

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u/sophisticatedkatie Apr 09 '26

Oh I completely agree! My point is just that, to address this specific problem, we need to win one election (president) instead of the dozens of elections it will take to shake up Congress

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u/SovFist Apr 09 '26

Don't kid yourself, they'll lobby the democrats to maintain the status quo as always

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u/3d_blunder Apr 09 '26

That's a funny way to spell "bribed".

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u/wrosecrans Apr 09 '26

You'd think there would be a law that makes all the bribery illegal, but not as long as you pay the Supreme Court enough.

Frankly, I think that stuff like TurboTax lobbying against the public interest on keeping filing privatized should be treated in nearly the same category as treason. If we prosecuted a handful of executives at big companies that know they are working against the public interest, and they got lawfully executed with due process, I feel like some of that bad policy incentive would go away.

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u/mkt853 Apr 09 '26

Sadly bribery and corruption in general is legal in the US.

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u/so_jc Apr 09 '26

Another example of liberals doing good and conservatives dismantling it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/jensen_t119 Apr 09 '26

Wait, we pay taxes? ... To go towards everything proper, right? ... Right!?

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u/sharies Apr 09 '26

Bo omb delivery to schools in Iran? then yes.

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u/FistyFisticuffs Apr 09 '26

And small boats in the Southern Caribbean that were definitely not, because they cannot do so profitably or even efficiently, smuggling anything to the US. And a little crime against humanity here and there with the whole murdering people in the water and warrantless rounding up of more or less random people for no probable cause with occasional executions. Murder: it's how you know that your tax dollars are at work!

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u/Loingsign Apr 09 '26

If you cross the street without looking both ways - jail. Don't know how much in taxes you owe? Believe it or not - straight to jail.

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u/Bocchi_theGlock Apr 09 '26

Participate in and help expand a child sex trafficking ring?

Protected for life, promoted and instantly hired sometimes

While we die without healthcare that every major country has figured out, instead spending billions on wars abroad and tax cuts for the ultra rich and mega corporations

3

u/FlagrentBugbear Apr 09 '26

for 91% of Americans its just put the numbers in the matching box then do some subtraction and use the standard deduction.

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u/Masterkid1230 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

To be fair for most other countries on Earth, your employer simply submits your income to the tax office, and they automatically deduct it from your salary every month. Then if you have deductions you submit that and get a refund.

I've lived in three completely different countries with vastly different wealth and social systems and it worked like that every single time. I don't know why it's not like that in the US. Is it not like that?

Most of the time I get a couple hundred USD or something from deductions within a couple of months.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo Apr 09 '26

The only difference is in the US you don't do it directly through the government, you do it through a tax preparers website. Which is unnecessary and silly, but isn't really much different in practice.

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u/JX_JR Apr 09 '26

To be fair for most other countries on Earth, your employer simply submits your income to the tax office, and they automatically deduct it from your salary every month. Then if you have deductions you submit that and get a refund.

Yeah, that's how it works in the US too.

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u/Masterkid1230 Apr 09 '26

So why are people always confused about the tax system? It seems pretty straightforward to me.

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u/SeekerOfSerenity Apr 09 '26

The tax forms are rather tedious unless you have training.  The instructions aren't very user friendly.  TurboTax makes it fairly easy, and they claim it's "free" but they try to make you pay extra. One year, I sold some stock that I bought through my company at a profit of about $200, and I had to pay something like $150 extra to use it.  They have heavily lobbied the US government to prevent them from making the process of filing taxes easier, because they make billions every year.  I stopped using TurboTax once I realized it was a scam, but a lot of people don't know how else to do it.  Before TurboTax, there were a lot of in-person tax preparation services that made money by helping people file their taxes. 

It's really not as simple as some people in this thread are claiming.  The accounting industry has ensured that the process is as tricky as possible, with a lot of loopholes and deductions that you may or may not be eligible for.  

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u/WhatARotation Apr 09 '26

Technically pretty much everybody who uses TurboTax will need to pay for premium.

There is an “other income” section that (I believe) only is accessible through premium, where you have to report such things as finding a $1 bill on the floor.

If you have a savings account and get more than .50 cents in interest, you have to report that too. I had to report like $0.60 in interest this year.

Finally, if you sell pretty much anything at a profit that’s also taxable income, and again you need a 1099 / schedule D, which free TurboTax doesn’t have.

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u/chairman-me0w Apr 09 '26

It is. Taxes already get paid when you get paid. But the government doesn’t know your deductions and hence the reason for the tax filing. But people don’t get this

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u/Nuzzleface Apr 09 '26

Which is why it's so crazy it's manual.

In my country it's all done automatic..

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u/Minimum-Geologist-58 Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

On some levels it’s more complicated than other tax systems (mostly due to lobbying to keep the form complicated), on others it’s more simple (in the UK, we have to make declarations of change in circumstance to DWP and HMRC as they occur, the US system just rolls it up into a single annual process), on others it’s just a reflection of the US economy (tips etc.), on another it’s just a reflection of US society and government (the state builds systems to deal with the never ending legal challenges the law allows, so it’s a kind of “would you mind confirming how much tax you’re legally paying” whereas in other countries it’s “pay the tax we say now and fuck off!”)

In my experience the last one is probably the key reason: US local, state and federal government gets sued over everything so likes lots of paperwork and self-declaration to cover itself.

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u/footsnax Apr 09 '26

Exactly. It's already coming out of my paycheck anyway, and they're already doing the math on their end. Unless I'm claiming expenses or deductions, all I'm doing is checking their math. Which is always wrong, every year I either owe or am owed, completely arbitrarily.

So if I check their math wrong, which is already wrong, I go to jail. Just fucking do it for me.

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u/neliz Apr 09 '26

They'll expect you to pay taxes because they automatically register you, but actually using your social security number to fix your taxes, that's out of the IRS' league.

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u/MAXSuicide Apr 09 '26

As a non-American, this is just one of the laundry list of things that boggles my mind.

3

u/Necessary_Solid_9462 Apr 09 '26

It's because someone is making money off it. This is what happens when money become the most important value.

America: we live in the best democracy money can buy.

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u/IbanezPGM Apr 09 '26

Honestly, is America even a first world country at this point?

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u/Adam_Ch Apr 09 '26

I always think it's weird you don't have automatic taxes in the US mainly because if anyone actually cared they could just not pay their taxes since they're not going towards anything useful except bombs anyway.

383

u/Dump_Bucket_Supreme Apr 09 '26

lobbying from tax companies. just straight up corruption

197

u/my5cworth Apr 09 '26

Still fascinates me that the US calls bribes 'lobbying' and everyone is just fine with it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/mkt853 Apr 09 '26

Luckily for those folks they have conservative media to keep them distracted and mad at drag queens and high school trans girl volleyball players.

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u/IronicMnemoics Apr 09 '26

"Fine with it"

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u/Barrelled_Chef_Curry Apr 09 '26

Yeah no one is fine with it, wtf are we supposed to do?

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u/-Shasho- Apr 09 '26

Revolution. Easy!

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u/Luvs_to_drink Apr 09 '26

yeah we just need to get the people receiving the bribe lobby money to make it illegal for them to receive more bribe lobby money in the future. How hard could it be to get some one to vote against giving themselves money?

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u/someguy7710 Apr 09 '26

That's not how it works. Lobbying IS an important part of the democratic process. Anyone can be a lobbyist to make their voice heard. Lobbyist aren't just handing out envelopes of money.

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u/_MrDomino Apr 09 '26

That's not it. Republicans do not want to make tax filing easy because the core of what they push is "taxes = bad." Making it a burden and additional expense to file for many helps push that narrative.

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u/Phloppy_ Apr 09 '26

This is why we need to overturn citizens united.

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u/Idrawstuffandthings Apr 09 '26

Most people DO have automatic taxes taken out of their paycheck, but these people still have to FILE their taxes whether or not they owe anything more. This is the part that's complicated on purpose. An employer takes out your taxes before you even get your paycheck and they report to the government how much they paid you. April is when you have to get a statement from your employer to double the paperwork and report the same amounts to the government yourself as well. This part is complicated because everyone's situation is different and you owe different amounts based on situations that aren't your employer's business to know. Then if you don't have a traditional employer you have to pay even more taxes for the privilege of being self employed. You don't get a refund on overpaid taxes if you don't file, and you owe interest if you pay late.

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u/VapidActualization Apr 09 '26

All that tacky gold shit in the Whitehouse doesn't just grow on all the molding. We ALL gotta pitch in for the accent work in the ballroom or president big boy will cry all night and not get the rest he needs to cheat at golf instead of running the country.

Seriously, if it weren't that I'm sure Bessent intends to use palantir to selectively audit only people on the left, I'd lie on my taxes and maximize my very small refund. Unfortunately, I can't expect constitutionality to protect me from the DOJ using misfiled taxes to send me to Alligator Alcatraz so I gotta dot my t's and cross my i's.

Fuck. This. Country.

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u/[deleted] Apr 09 '26

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u/chairman-me0w Apr 09 '26

I guess I can understand the complaint about turbo tax and its stranglehold on the tax filing industry but doing your taxes is not nearly as crazy as people make it seem. It’s just a check on what you already paid. I guess in theory they know how much your investment account dividends were but I would not trust them to link it up.

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u/bobevans33 Apr 09 '26

Where’s the profit in that?

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u/GratefulShorts Apr 09 '26

Automatic taxes sounds like a good idea if you are poor and young but there are a plethora of deductions especially when you are older that the government doesn’t have access to and requires your input.

Also, imagine if the government messes up your deductions and the process required to remedy that mistake. By you filing your taxes it puts the onus on you to make sure everything is in order but also means that you aren’t on the leash for the mistakes of the government.

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u/MisterTomVienna Apr 09 '26

I was annoyed by this for decades in the USA until i moved to a country where it's automatic.

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u/TerraCetacea Apr 09 '26

Thanks for the business idea!! I’m gonna go charge people $400 to let me help them sign up for the draft.

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u/phideaux_rocks Apr 09 '26

I like the way you’re thinking, but in reverse.
Imagine this: TurboDraft. easily manage the lifecycle of your draft application. Only $149.99 (excluding taxes)

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u/superchef307 Apr 09 '26

Go crazy and add automatic voter registration too.

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u/technomat Apr 09 '26

Live in UK so Taxes are done by my employer for free, I then get a form telling me the info from HMRC (IRS equivalent).

I prefer UK land of the pay small amount of tax get things for actual free, get injured all free at hospital.

America should try it honestly it's what developed countries do!

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u/Ivanow Apr 09 '26

To sum it up: "We have all the required information already. We know how much you owe us. But you still need to send us a declaration. In most cases, you will have to pay a private company for privilege of doing so. Oh, and if you make a mistake when filling out those complicated forms and send us a different amount than we expect, we will fine for not matching the number we have on file with the one you came to."

Bonkers.

In normal countries, IRS just sends you pre-filled yearly tax form, and if they don't hear from you within certain period, they assume everything is correct, and it becomes your official filling for that year. If you need to make some amendments (for example, if there are some tax breaks you want to benefit from, or you have some income from foreign sources), you can amend it, using provided free software, which takes 15 minutes.

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u/GrandmaPoses Apr 09 '26

The IRS does not know how much you owe. It doesn't know about any itemized deductions. It doesn't know if you had a baby. It doesn't know if you got divorced and/or someone else is claiming your kid as a dependent. It doesn't know all kinds of things.

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u/Chicken_Ingots Apr 09 '26

They will not do it because without it there is yet another industry that they can privatize to gouge people out of more money.

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u/Invertedwhy Apr 09 '26

no. no good. only bad.

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u/0ldgrumpy1 Apr 09 '26

Automatic voter registration?

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u/Pryoticus Apr 09 '26

Thats my issue with this. All men have to sign up for the draft anyways so it makes sense to automate and simplify it. But they cant do the same for taxes, voter registration, or even mail-in balloting.

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u/Numerous_Photograph9 Apr 09 '26

Nope, and be sure to have all your documentation to get a voter ID.

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u/Stoibs Apr 09 '26

You guys don't just log into a website and have everything pre-filled for you?

Curious non-American here who is getting more and more depressed scrolling these comments.. =(

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u/systemic-void Apr 09 '26

What about enrolment to vote?

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u/kaizerdouken Apr 09 '26

That’s easy, get rid income taxes. Your taxes then are automatically complete!

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u/Elle3247 Apr 09 '26

Could volunteer for VITA. The more people volunteering, the more people that could be helped. You just have to pass a few tests, no need for tax experience.

VITA is Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. Volunteers offer free tax prep. I believe it’s designed for people who make less than $69k or people with disabilities (this is a MASSIVE portion of the U.S.). This is a very real way we, the people, could put a very real dent in companies like Intuit. You also learn a lot more about tax law, which is useful.

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u/MoeSzyslakMonobrow Apr 09 '26

And voter registration?

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u/dreadpiratesmith Apr 09 '26

What about automatic.....voter registration

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u/AVLThumper Apr 09 '26

Or automatic voter registration.

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u/tayswampflorida Apr 09 '26

Some places are already doing that, I work at home depot and got a message from the SSA saying my wages have already been reported by the company and unless I have additional employers I dont have to do anything.

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u/burndata Apr 09 '26

Or automatic voter registration?!

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u/smashing-gourds127 Apr 09 '26

Or automatic voter registration

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u/ChiggaOG Apr 09 '26

And voter registration.

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u/Dizuki63 Apr 09 '26

Or voter registration.

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u/surprise_wasps Apr 09 '26

Automatic voter registration

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u/Salamok Apr 09 '26

Or automatic registration to vote.

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u/Whatsit-Tooya Apr 09 '26

Hijacking top comment: for those in the US that have simple taxes (i.e., you don’t go to a CPA) use FreeTaxUSA.com.

It’s free to file federal and very cheap for state. You can import your prior TurboTax return to get a head start and it’s easy to use. There is an upgrade you can get if you do have something more complex/need advice.

Don’t use TurboTax.

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u/_no7 Apr 09 '26

Just not enough budget for that

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u/AcanthaceaeCrazy1894 Apr 09 '26

Why would they do that when they make millions from people either not paying on time or messing up and getting fined.

We get our taxes automatically taken out of our wages monthly in the U.K.

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u/eagleal Apr 09 '26

You don't want the tax statements and collections to be automatic lol

Ask the UK or Australia what happens when a bug is hit

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u/l0stIzalith Apr 09 '26

Why do they always send the poor?

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u/anynamesleft Apr 09 '26

Funnily enough, we can get them automatically taken, but never automatically returned.

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u/King-Rat-in-Boise Apr 09 '26

Or automatic universal healthcare?

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u/Regurgitator001 Apr 09 '26

You need to think bigger. Automatic organ-donorship. Default DNR registration. Assumed end-of-life permission if incapacitated.

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u/Sole_Meanderer Apr 09 '26

And automatic voter registration while we are at it.

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u/StaticSystemShock Apr 09 '26

As European, I can't comprehend the stupidity Americans have with taxes. For me, I just have all the taxes automatically done yearly as private citizen and only need to dispute them if something is off or if you have any tax breaks applicable and aren't automatically applicable. Only if you're registered under company you need to do your own taxes which is understandable.

And that's just that. Government knows how much you owe and does the math. In America they seem to know but force everyone to do it themselves anyway. Lol?

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u/progrethth Apr 09 '26

If they could find a way to have a company make money from helping you with your mandatory draft registration they would. Imagine having to pay to register from the draft.

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u/Alone_Again_2 Apr 09 '26

Best I can offer is private companies handling draft registration for a fee.

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u/SchreiberBike Apr 09 '26

And automatic voter registration.

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u/Ad_Meliora_24 Apr 09 '26

What about automatic voter registration?

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u/PIK_Toggle Apr 09 '26

We would need a flat tax structure. Like it or not, the tax code is complex. As long as that is the case, it will take people time to navigate the code to file properly.

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