In 2024, the IRS will launch a pilot program to offer its own, government-run, income tax return-preparation website, according to a report the universally despised agency provided to Congress on Tuesday. The report follows a $15 million study of the concept.
If there were ever a proposal absolutely guaranteed to be a multifaceted disaster, this is it. Boobus Americanus, however, is apparently champing at the bit: IRS surveys find 72% of Americans are “very” or “somewhat interested in” a free government tool for calculating taxes. What are they missing?
For starters, the IRS and all of us animals on the government’s taxpayer ranch approach this endeavor with an enormous conflict of interest. We don’t want to pay a penny more than we absolutely have to, while the government is hell-bent on extracting an entirely fictional “fair share” — and more — from each of us.