Wanna see a true and clear example of just how bought and sold our government is? Let’s take the example of something that pretty much EVERYONE is a fan of. That thing is filing your taxes for FREE in five minutes. It’s not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It’s just a thing that tens of millions of taxpayers could use, and it would save the country billions of hours of work, not to mention money. But our Congress couldn’t get it done. Why not? Because there’s a profit motive on the other side. It’s goes by the name TurboTax.TurboTax is some shitty tax software that makes a billion dollars for the people who own it. And they don’t want you doing your taxes easily for free. They want you to buy their fucking shitty software. So they spend $11 million lobbying Congress to block easier (free) tax preparation. And it worked. Congress rolled over like a puppy lookin’ for a belly scratch. And it only took a mere $11 million. If THAT’s all it takes to get Congress to flip on an obvious, non-partisan issue, then just imagine how easy it is to get them to blue-ball a bill they weren’t in love with to begin with! AND in these tough economic times, it could’ve saved average Americans $100 million. But for that to matter Congress would have to give a fuck about the average American, and we both know that’s about as likely as a Pope with a clean record.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/turbotax-intuit-return-free-filing_n_2957124.html
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Doesn’t the United Way offer free tax preparation assistance to low and middle income earners? It’s a drop in the bucket, sure, and based on the charitable concern of kind individuals rather than the law, but it’s something: financial literacy need not be a well-kept secret among our society’s “haves!”