The Wall Street Journal reported today that "the IRS is working on steps to improve tax administration." Most notably, this would include a free, government-run tax preparation service that would allow taxpayers to file simple returns on the IRS' website. The move is opposed by tax-prep behemoths like H&R Block and Intuit, TurboTax's parent company.
Lawmakers from both parties have promised simple and/or free tax preparation for decades. In May 1985, President Ronald Reagan proposed "a system where more than half of us would not even have to fill out a return," wherein "you would automatically receive your refund or a letter explaining any additional tax you owe." In 2006, Austan Goolsbee, who later served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama, proposed the "Simple Return," a system of return-free filing that "might apply to as many as 40 percent of Americans, for whom it could save up to 225 million hours of time and more than $2 billion a year in tax preparation fees."
