
Robots Will Soon Do Your Taxes. Bye-Bye, Accounting Jobs - devy
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/robots-will-soon-taxes-bye-bye-accounting-jobs/
======
andreiw
The government should do my taxes. No, seriously. They already know enough to
figure out if I made mistakes in my tax return, so there's no real utility
here, beyond giving every tax payer the ammunition to land themselves in hot
water.

There's no real reason why every year everyone needs to go through this pain
behind the eyes. And letting accountants do it doesn't really lower the stress
level - I still need to hand off all the "state" and paperwork necessary, and
I'm still on the hook if the accountant gets it wrong (I've had this happen to
me, too, and it's not fun). Doing taxes is not productive.

~~~
nopzor
You're completely correct, but missing the real 'reason' why they dont 'do
your taxes' or at least send you a completed return to sign: immense lobbying
power by the tax preparation industry.

H&R Block and literally thousands of smaller accounting firms would basically
be put out of business. Or at least become small shells of what they once
were.

I personally think that's a pretty terrible reason for the current situation.

~~~
toomuchtodo
[http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/intuit-
turbotax-...](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/intuit-turbotax-
fought-free-simple-tax-filing)

"This is not some pie-in-the-sky that's never been done before," said William
Gale, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. "It's doable,
feasible, implementable, and at a relatively low cost."

So why hasn't it become a reality?

Well, for one thing, it doesn't help that it's been opposed for years by the
company behind the most popular consumer tax software—Intuit, maker of
TurboTax. Conservative tax activist Grover Norquist and an influential
computer industry group also have fought return-free filing.

Intuit has spent about $11.5 million on federal lobbying in the past five
years—more than Apple or Amazon. Although the lobbying spans a range of
issues, Intuit's disclosures pointedly note that the company "opposes IRS
government tax preparation."

The disclosures show that Intuit as recently as 2011 lobbied on two bills,
both of which died, that would have allowed many taxpayers to file pre-filled
returns for free. The company also lobbied on bills in 2007 and 2011 that
would have barred the Treasury Department, which includes the IRS, from
initiating return-free filing.

Elizabeth Warren sponsors legislation to fix the problem:
[https://www.warren.senate.gov/taxday/](https://www.warren.senate.gov/taxday/)

TL;DR F--- Intuit.

