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submitted 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Summary

Elon Musk claimed on X that he eliminated the IRS team responsible for the "Direct File" program, which allows Americans to file taxes online for free.

His statement was in response to a right-wing MAGA influencer who called the “direct file” tax program a “far-left government-wide computer office” built by Elizabeth Warren.

Thus far, the website remains active.

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[-] lennybird@lemmy.world 43 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

OpenSecrets, 02/06/2024 - "TurboTax maker Intuit spent millions in record lobbying blitz amid threats to tax prep industry"

This is the great sell-off of America. Anyone who knows what happened to Russia over the course of the 2000s know what's coming is not good.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 29 points 14 hours ago

This is just what the redhats voted for in order to lower the price of eggs.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

See, I was told this was the result of Midwestern Muslims caring too much about a genocide in Palestine. :-/

I think people put too much weight on the idea of Presidential Vote as people lining up to vote on these sweeping socio-economic reforms. They have to recognize it as a much simpler - almost libidinal - endorsement of The Daddy Party versus The Mommy Party. The choice was never about how efficiently one files their income taxes (a big chunk of Republicans want the entire IRS abolished anyway) or whether the Treasury trades in Bitcoin. It was just whether one personally identified with Trump or Harris as personifications of their political Id.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 points 31 minutes ago

Trump is literally no one's daddy and you should be IP banned for implying it until you repent of your sins

[-] fox2263@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago
[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

It fits in perfectly with the real name: Department of Government Enshitification

[-] hddsx@lemmy.ca 42 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Avoiding specifics on what he is doing, what the hell is he doing to deserve his compensation at Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter? He’s too busy in DC.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 34 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

I think most everyone suspected this, but being a CEO is a part-time job.

The elites long told us they were the hardest-working Americans.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 6 points 15 hours ago

Don't forget neuralink and boring.

[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 109 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Who the fuck do these people think they are. Unelected, unsanctioned, no transparency, no procedure, no committees, no votes, no oversight, no laws. Just the whims of a tech billionaire and his cronies and a President who has given him the run of Washington to rip up what he pleases. If there is any justice, both of these fucks will be dealt with harshly.

[-] btaf45@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Just the whims of a tech billionaire

And Afrikaner racist. That was the group of people that literally ran a white supremist government in South Africa for 80 years and jailed Nelson Mandela for over 30 years.

[-] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 9 points 13 hours ago

If there is any justice, both of these fucks will be dealt with harshly.

I mean, if the past four years of waiting on consequences for Trump is any indication...

[-] Goodmorningsunshine@lemmy.world 54 points 18 hours ago

Kings. They think they're kings.

[-] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 26 points 17 hours ago

They are kings. No one is going to stop them

[-] fart@sh.itjust.works 7 points 16 hours ago

literally look into peter thiel's whole belief system

[-] Voyajer@lemmy.world 71 points 19 hours ago

Government overreach? They're the tax people.

[-] SinningStromgald@lemmy.world 14 points 17 hours ago

And now the government wants to privatize as much of the governments functions as possible. So in their view the government providing a service that private companies can provide is overreach.

P.S. freetaxusa.com Free federal filing and cheap state filing. Best I've filed online with after taxact became a shitshow.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 8 points 13 hours ago

I already got my direct file in and it says I should get the return soon so uh, here's hoping

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 38 points 18 hours ago

Wait, y'all have to pay to file taxes?

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 49 points 17 hours ago

In theory, no. In practice, yes, since a lot of people go to places like H&R or buy tax software to do it.

This online version, as I understand it, was a great way for people that had relatively simple taxes to do it without too much hassle.

But assholes like fElon cannot STAND the threat of a good example of government and something that benefits people they deem unworthy. That's why these dickheads went after the consumer protection bureau, too.

[-] MummifiedClient5000@feddit.dk 8 points 16 hours ago

Give leon a break here, he doesn't pay taxes.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 17 hours ago

Yes, the state always serves capital not people.

[-] Sanctus@lemmy.world 64 points 19 hours ago

The government should do your taxes for you. We will never have nice things, huh?

[-] glitch1985@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago

Not until H&R Block stops lobbying for things to be difficult.

[-] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 7 points 13 hours ago

Intuit (TurboTax) is the main culprit here, but yes.

[-] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 1 points 2 hours ago

Intuit can get fucked. I remember one time at work (tech firm) they linked to some podcast featuring Intuit and I about threw up.

Fucking scum

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 19 points 16 hours ago

It's so nice for Musk to think of the TurboTax and HR Block shareholders.

/s

[-] Tinidril@midwest.social 45 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I think we might finally have a common demand that we can all agree on. Deport illegal immigrant Elon Musk and confiscate his ill gotten wealth. General strike time?

[-] Baguette@lemm.ee 1 points 6 hours ago

Deporting seems a bit too nice. I was thinking moreso jailtime for about a couple hundred lifetimes

[-] DrSleepless@lemmy.world 20 points 19 hours ago

Damn, I used it last year and it was great

[-] Tinidril@midwest.social 7 points 19 hours ago

Read the summary.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 13 points 19 hours ago

Just a thought that this brings up. If you are in the USA and you procrastinate on filing your tax return until the last minute, don't do that this year. Get the return done and filed as soon as you can. We all know is not the fastest system to get a tax return (which many get and depend on), but with musk and trump dismantling the government before our eyes, some or all of those system may be dismantled or collateral damage. This means you may not get you return until much much later than you expect (and need). Getting your taxes filed early gives us the best chance to still get our return processed before this part of government stops functioning as it does today.

[-] clif@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

But I should procrastinate paying my taxes until the last minute, yes? I have 1099 income that doesn't have taxes pre deducted from it, there's I always have to pay in (which is fine, I budget for it)

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 18 hours ago

Conversely, if you owe, stall stall stall, file for an extension and stall some more. (This is not tax advice, make sure there are no penalties etc etc.)

[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Why would you want your taxes done early? That makes absolutely no sense.

If you expect a refund, you have been doing your taxes wrong. Stop taking exemptions. You always want to owe under $1,000. Refund money is free money you lent the government that pays 0%.

If you owe money, you have even less reason to pay taxes early.

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[-] bamboo 8 points 19 hours ago

Is this summary AI generated, it's garbage and seems to contradict the linked article, which is about the same length. The way it's phrased makes it sound like the free tax filing is still offered, only with customer support now, and no online component. The article makes no mention of this.

[-] futatorius@lemm.ee 6 points 18 hours ago

Sounds like Leon owns some tax-filing app shares.

[-] HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 16 hours ago
[-] socialmedia@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

Write your tax return by hand and mail it in. The IRS downsized years ago and got rid of the people who read these things. They will try to OCR it and have a computer review it, but if there are issues then surely a human will need to look at it.

Would be a shame if everyone filed taxes in a way that was terribly inconvenient for them.

[-] spongebue@lemmy.world 7 points 16 hours ago

In theory, that could be the goal. Cripple the government by choking revenue.

In practice, this is not what most people use to file taxes, particularly those who pay substantial amounts. More importantly, those taxes are mostly paid through paycheck withholdings. Most people get tax refunds by filing, or if they came up short through the year they only pay a small amount through this system.

[-] Zink@programming.dev 1 points 6 hours ago

So it happens to create a backdoor regressive tax via over payments and refundable credits that go unclaimed?

Sounds about right when the cruelty is the point.

[-] Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 15 hours ago

Would be nice if he fucked the system enough that they couldn’t even accept payments - for the first time I owe federal taxes this year, about $300+.

[-] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 4 points 13 hours ago

The rich do not pay taxes. You have therefore been identified as a poor. Please remain still for reeducation/organ harvesting.

So cut off nose to spite face just to own the libs?

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this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
363 points (100.0% liked)

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