Fauxcahontas has returned to the battle against TurboTax. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, is targeting TurboTax for allegedly misleading customers while Americans are focused on paying protection money taxes.
In a scathing critique, Warren attacked TurboTax’s pricing scheme. She accused the company of charging excessively for simple tax returns and employing tactics that she considered to be excessive. In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, she claimed that the company’s site “attempts” to steer taxpayers away from the free options of filing federal and state taxes early on.
She complained about the fact that taxpayers could pay $133, and then be “upsold or asked to purchase additional expensive services eight times more in the process”.
Warren then asked the FTC “to take action to protect taxpayers against tax preparation companies who pile on junk fees to taxpayers.”
The senator has been railing against TurboTax for quite some time. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, made her look stupid faster than she could say, “Pow Wow Chow,” after she posted on X (formerly Twitter) that TurboTax had “spent millions of dollars lobbying to make the tax filing process as difficult as possible.”
Every time you see a TurboTax ad, remember: they’ve spent millions of dollars lobbying to make the tax-filing process as difficult and time-consuming as possible. All to protect their bottom line. But now the IRS is testing out a truly free Direct File option.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 12, 2024
Massie replied, saying that it is lawmakers like her who are responsible for making the tax code much more complex than necessary.
Give me a break. Don’t pretend you’re the firefighter when in fact you’re the arsonist.
Our convoluted tax code was created by senators and representatives like you who want to do social engineering in the tax code. https://t.co/pchDamBZGW
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 13, 2024
Massie has done it again.
TurboTax is not the real problem. The problem is that people like Warren have made the system so complex and difficult to understand that many Americans find it hard to grasp. CPAs and TurboTax are often used by people who have difficulty understanding the tax code. Warren, as far as I remember, hasn’t exactly been a proponent of simplifying tax codes.
TurboTax is not mandatory, except for the government’s desire to maintain a complex tax code. Customers use TurboTax for many reasons. It is up to them to research the best way to file their taxes. TurboTax, however, is not the only business that constantly tries to upsell its customers. Should the government regulate annoyances and irritants?
TurboTax itself is not the issue. The problem is people like Sen. Warren. Her complaints are just a diversion from the fact lawmakers should focus on overhauling (or removing) the tax structure that governs how our money is taken by the state. Unfortunately, Congress members are more interested in pursuing private entities rather than cleaning up the mess they created.
