In the Media
MARKETWATCH: IRS mulls offering free online tax prep services
04. 25. 2023
Advocates say it’s high time for Americans to be able to prep and file their taxes directly with the IRS.
The article originally appeared in MarketWatch.
“It’s time for the IRS to create a free and simplified public tax filing option,” said Adam Ruben, vice president of campaign and political strategy at the Economic Security Project, a left-leaning organization that’s pushed for guaranteed income and more generous tax credits for lower-income people.
He was part of an April 17 demonstration outside of an H&R Block branch in Washington, D.C. “It was really to draw attention to the way the private tax prep companies have a stranglehold on the tax filing process in the United States,” he said.
The IRS proved its capacity to take on the extra work, considering the millions of stimulus checks and child tax credit payments it distributed during the pandemic, Ruben noted.
Now it has cash that could be put toward a direct filing system, he said. “We expect the IRS to come out and say creating a free government tax filing option is feasible and that nothing stands in the way.”