TurboTax Grassroots Campaign Complicates the Simplification

Posted on April 29, 2014

Recently, the makers of TurboTax were linked to a ‘grassroots’ campaign against free, simple tax filing. See this Propublica article here.

The Internal Revenue Code is a terribly complicated document, so much so that it has created an incestuous desire among legislators, accountants, attorneys and tax software providers to keep it that way.

If the tax code were simplified or abolished, an entire industry built upon this complicated document, and the billions of dollars it generates each year, would be lost. No wonder Turbo Tax has begun a not-so-secret campaign to thwart the IRS free file program.

As a tax attorney, I understand the limited areas of the Internal Revenue Code that apply to the areas of law in which I practice. However, other areas of the code in which I do not practice are baffling or downright difficult to understand.

As a tax attorney, I navigate the complicated code on behalf of my clients, partially because my clients cannot understand the law because it is so complicated. As a result, the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code drives clients to me, which in turn, drives my success.