(By Adam Andrzejewski, RealClear Wire) The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 included $15 million to study the creation of a government-run tax e-filing system — a study that has been marred by partisan researchers, and with many of the questions in the study already answered.
Progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren have advocated for a “free direct efile tax return system” which would fundamentally change the tax system in the U.S. according to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board. Instead of taxpayers determining how much they owe subject to audit, as they do now, this new system would see the government calculate each citizens’ taxes.
The IRS hired New America as one of its investigators, whose top officials worked for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. New American is already on the record as endorsing this plan. Other hires include Ariel Jurow Kleiman, a Loyola Law School professor who has written a paper endorsing the plan.
“Why bother with the ruse of an ‘independent’ study?” the Journal wrote.
While the results are unlikely to be surprising, the IRS already commissioned a study by MITRE on public attitudes regarding a system like this. It found only 37% of filers would use an IRS service like this, and only 29% of filers would use it if it didn’t have a state tax filing feature. About 50% of respondents want to stick with their current third party software.
“Among the nearly 50% of respondents who say they want to stick with their current commercial software, among their reasons was, ‘I don’t think it’s the IRS’s role to prepare taxes.’ Sensible thinking,” the Journal wrote.
This new costly study is partisan and duplicative, and the IRS should put its money to better use to serve taxpayers.
