The IRS likely already has all of the information it needs to calculate your tax liabilities and refunds—your employer provides it. The agency could just send you a pre-filled out tax form based on information they already have and allow taxpayers to confirm or amend it.

But wealthy corporations like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block brokered a sweetheart deal, promising to offer low-income taxpayers free software in exchange for the IRS not making a free filing program of its own. Of course, these companies then made the "free" options difficult to use by deploying deceptive design and misleading tactics to steer low-income filers to paid versions of their service when they are eligible to file for free.

The IRS has the authority to create a free, easy-to-use online tax filing tool. Previous outcries have led to successful federal and state investigations, lawsuits, and some reforms. And in 2022, Democrats in Congress funded a $15 million study of free tax filing options as part of the Inflation Reduction Act–an important move towards a universal public filing option.

We still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to making corporations pay their fair share, and a free filing system would take much of the frustration, stress, and the expense out of doing your taxes.

Sign if you agree: Tax prep should be easy and free.

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