The Death of Direct File: When Government Actually Works, They Kill It
Been scrolling through some discussions about the incoming administration’s plan to axe the IRS Direct File program, and honestly, it’s got me pretty wound up. Here we have a rare example of government actually making life easier for ordinary people, and what happens? It gets killed off faster than you can say “corporate lobbying.”
For those who missed it, Direct File was this brilliant little program that let people with simple tax situations file their returns directly through the IRS website - completely free. No third-party software, no hidden fees, no upselling to premium versions. Just a straightforward government service that worked exactly as advertised. Revolutionary stuff, apparently.
The kicker? The new IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, openly admits he “doesn’t care about Direct File” and wants to shut it down. This is the same bloke who previously called for abolishing the entire IRS and has zero relevant experience in tax administration. It’s like appointing someone who’s never owned a car to run VicRoads - except somehow even more ridiculous.
What really gets under my skin is how transparent this whole thing is. Someone in the discussion thread laid out the numbers: Intuit (TurboTax) has blown nearly $4 million just in the past couple of years specifically lobbying against Direct File. H&R Block has chipped in another few million. Combined, these tax prep companies have spent over $39 million since 2006 fighting against free government filing options. That’s serious money being thrown around to ensure ordinary people keep paying for something that should be free.
The whole thing reminds me of when I was helping my daughter file her first tax return last year. She’d made maybe $8,000 from her part-time job at the local café, dead simple tax situation. In the old days, she would’ve had to either fill out paper forms (good luck with that) or pay TurboTax $30-50 to file electronically. With Direct File, it took us about fifteen minutes and cost nothing. That’s government working for people instead of corporations, and apparently that’s just too radical for the land of the free.
It’s maddening when you compare this to how things work in other developed countries. I’ve got mates in Europe who tell me their tax returns are basically automated - the government already knows what you owe or what you’re owed, so they just send you a summary to confirm. Takes five minutes. Meanwhile, here we are in supposedly the most advanced economy in the world, and people are expected to pay private companies to tell the government information it already has.
The really frustrating part is how this disproportionately hurts people who can least afford it. Wealthy folks aren’t using Direct File anyway - they’ve got accountants handling their complex returns. This is purely about squeezing money out of students, casual workers, retirees, and anyone else with straightforward finances. It’s a perfect example of how so many policies in practice serve as a regressive tax on being poor or middle-class.
What strikes me most about this whole mess is how it perfectly captures the mentality of the incoming administration. When faced with a government program that actually works and saves people money, their instinct isn’t to celebrate or expand it - it’s to kill it off. Because apparently the real measure of good governance isn’t whether citizens’ lives are improved, but whether corporate donors are happy.
The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that this kind of naked corporate capture is becoming harder to hide. When you’ve got companies spending millions to lobby against a free service that helps ordinary people, and then you appoint someone who openly wants to destroy the very agency they’re supposed to run, it’s pretty obvious what’s going on. Maybe, just maybe, enough people will notice and remember come next election time.
Until then, I suppose we’re back to the old American way: pay to play, even when it’s your own government providing the service. What a country.