Press Release

New Poll Shows that Majority of Americans Support IRS-Run Free and Simplified Filing System

05. 15. 2023

Public opinion research in advance of IRS’s upcoming report to Congress supports a free, public Direct eFile tool for taxpayers

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Washington, D.C. – Today, new polling shows that 76% of registered voters support the development of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-run free and simplified tax filing option. This new polling from Navigator developed exclusively in partnership with Economic Security Project comes in advance of the highly-anticipated IRS report to Congress outlining the agency’s capacity for constructing and managing a “Direct eFile” tool that taxpayers can use for free through the IRS website. Amongst the supporters of the IRS-run tax filing system, there was notably higher support amongst tax filers that earn less than $50k (77%), tax filers between 18 and 34 (81%), and tax filers who are Black (80%).

You can see a link to the poll here and below is a statement from Adam Ruben, Vice President of Campaigns and Political Strategy at Economic Security Project:

“Over 60 million Americans have tax returns that are so simple to complete the IRS could do them automatically right now. If just half of those taxpayers used a free and simplified system, it could save Americans a combined $7 billion dollars and a total of 32,000 years of life – every single year. It’s no wonder that people want options including an IRS-run free and simple tax filing system designed to save taxpayers money, time, and headaches. For far too long, tax service companies have been able to limit the effectiveness of free filing programs and keep the tax return process complicated – ensuring they can maximize profits. It is time that the IRS developed a free and simple tax filing option that is effective and truly available for everyone.”