And in this case it’s a clear path of lobbyist money into the pockets of Democrats, since it cleared the House Ways and Means Committee, under the silly name of the “Taxpayer First Act” which when it comes to filing online, puts Taxpayers last and the Tax Filing industry first. The bill is sponsored by Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa), making it one of the few things in Congress with bipartisan support these days. A companion Senate bill with the same provision has been introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).
As a huge gift to companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block one of its provisions, the bill makes it illegal for the IRS to create its own online system of tax filing. If the tax agency created its own program, which would be similar to programs other developed countries have, it would threaten the industry’s profits.
The IRS has failed to make filing taxes as easy and cheap as it could be, for example ProPublica found and reported on in 2013 that the IRS could provide taxpayers with pre-filled tax forms using data that they already have. Is mandating that part of this bill which claims to be putting Taxpayers first? Of course not.
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who became Ways and Means chair this year after Democrats took control of the House, received $16,000 in contributions from Intuit and H&R Block in the last two election cycles.
It’s bills like this that go against the best interests of taxpayers and instead serve to do nothing but enrich corporations who lobby Congress that Democrats should stand against. These types of bills with “bi-partisan” support fuel ‘both-sider-ism’ — the sense (accurately) that both-sides are largely in the pockets of lobbyists at the end of the day.
While having a Democratic majority in the House is good for oversight and for passing a bunch of for-show legislation. This type of legislation is unfortunately what we will probably actually see made law during this session. Laws benefiting corporations at the expense of average voters — more of the same.