On Tuesday, March 10, 2020 05:12:43 AM Curt wrote: > On 2020-03-10, Gene Heskett <ghesk...@shentel.net> wrote: > > But I didn't know there was a free filing system, Block sure isn't > > advertiseing it, I think they much prefer to keep on charging me around > > $300 to put their stamp on it. so I may investigate it, thanks for the > > heads up. > > This sums up the situation in the USA IMO: > > https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-free-simple-hr-blo > ck-intuit-lobbying-against-it > > “Let’s call the so-called Free File Alliance what it really is — a > front for tax prep companies who use it as a gateway to sell expensive > products no one would even need if we’d just made it easier for people > to pay their taxes,” said Warren in a statement to ProPublica. Warren’s > office put out a report on the issue last year that repeatedly cited > our coverage. > > No member of the hoi polloi in the Gallic regions uses or requires an > external software company to do their taxes, nor does anyone I know or > whom I've ever known here pay the least centime to get them done (not > rubbing shoulders much with any millionaires as part of the 99); the > French equivalent of the IRS (the "fisc") provides free, official > software online, pre-filled for the taxpayer. And *they* calculate what > you owe, if anything. You just fill in the numbers, if they're not > already filled in for you. > > At any rate, the H & R Blocks et. al. obviously have a vested, > mercantile interest in keeping the entire process bewilderingly > complicated, as well as exclusively within the domain of the private > sector.
Which is pretty much the same situation for medical insurers in the US.