Fauxcahontas is back on the warpath against TurboTax. While Americans are focused on paying their protection money taxes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is once again targeting the tax preparation company for allegedly misleading its customers.
In a fiery critique, Warren attacked TurboTax for its pricing scheme, accusing the company of overcharging for simple tax returns while employing upselling tactics she deems to be excessive. In a letter to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan, she claimed the company’s website “attempts to divert taxpayers away from free filing options early in the process – and continues to do so throughout their federal and state tax filings.”
She also complained that a taxpayer might pay about $133 and then “get upsold or solicited for additional costly services eight more times in the process.”
Warren then urged the FTC to “take action to protect taxpayers from tax preparation companies that pile junk fees onto taxpayers.”
The senator has been raging against TurboTax for quite some time. Earlier this year, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) made her look foolish faster than she could say “Pow Wow Chow” after she wrote a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming that TurboTax has “spent millions of dollars lobbying to make the tax-filing process as difficult and time-consuming as possible.”
Every time you see a TurboTax ad, remember: they’ve spent millions of dollars lobbying to make the tax-filing process as difficult and time-consuming as possible. All to protect their bottom line. But now the IRS is testing out a truly free Direct File option.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 12, 2024
Massie responded, pointing out that lawmakers like her are the true culprits in making the tax code more complicated than it needs to be.
Give me a break. Don’t pretend you’re the firefighter when in fact you’re the arsonist.
Our convoluted tax code was created by senators and representatives like you who want to do social engineering in the tax code. https://t.co/pchDamBZGW
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 13, 2024
Massie, as usual, nailed it.
The real problem here is not TurboTax’s business practices. It is the fact that folks like Warren have worked to make the system so overly complex and cumbersome that many Americans struggle to comprehend it. This is why they go to CPAs or rely on companies like TurboTax. As far as I can remember, Warren has not exactly been a champion of simplifying the tax code.
Moreover, nobody is forcing people to use TurboTax – except perhaps the government’s insistence on maintaining a complicated tax code. Consumers choose to use the service for a variety of reasons, and it is up to the customer to do appropriate research to determine how they should file their taxes. Additionally, TurboTax is not the only company that has the annoying habit of constantly trying to upsell their customers. Should the government be involved in regulating annoyances?
The reality is that TurboTax is not the problem. Folks like Sen. Warren are the problem. Her complaints are merely a deflection from the fact that lawmakers should be focusing on revamping (or eliminating) the tax structure that governs how the state takes our money. Unfortunately, members of Congress are more concerned with going after private entities than cleaning up their own house.
