997
submitted 1 month ago by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25117460

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 came in response to a right-wing influencer criticizing the program as government overreach.

However, the Treasury Department confirms that the Direct File system remains active, offering free tax filing with customer support.

The program, available in English and Spanish, is optional, allowing taxpayers to choose between using it or filing their taxes manually.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Carvex@lemmy.world 245 points 1 month ago

I think I'll skip paying taxes this year, my religion states I cannot support terrorist groups.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 52 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Good luck with that.

But, in all seriousness: Everyone should do their taxes ASAP. If you are due a refund? File very quickly. If you owe money? Wait until the last possible minute. Because there are decent odds that we don't have an IRS after a month or two of this...


That said, DO make it a point to file state taxes regardless since those actually go toward things that, even in red states, are focused on the populace.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

To late he just got rid of what takes to do our fucking taxes. I REFUSE TO USE TURBOTAX OR HR BLOCK OR ANY OTHER PREDATORY TAX FILING COMPANY.

Guess no refund for us and no child tax credit.

Btw what the fuck is Congress doing? This motherfucker should not be able to do any of this, yet no one stopping him.

[-] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 month ago

You do you. Personally, I want to get my money while I still can. But if you would rather throw away you and your children's money then ... 'kay.

Because there are basically 3 outcomes for the IRS at this point

  1. musk et al completely destroy it and insist that income tax is no longer a thing and only sales tax exists. I forget if this is part of project 2025 but it is something republicans have been arguing for decades because it predominantly hurts lower income households
  2. Democrats do their fucking job and intervene and we file taxes normally
  3. musk et al completely compromise the IRS and make it a point to attack "the little guy" so they can insist they are hard on crime while actively ignoring all their cronies who refuse to ever pay taxes again.

And if you truly refuse to use any software? You can file by hand. I did back in college when I couldn't afford even fricking turbotax.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (12 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 162 points 1 month ago

His statement came in response to a right-wing influencer criticizing the program as government overreach.

... HOW????? This movement simply has no real agenda or philosophy - they just want to burn everything down.

[-] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 97 points 1 month ago

This movement simply has no real agenda or philosophy - they just want to burn everything down.

That is the agenda

[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 month ago

Sorry - I don't mean "agenda" in the weird meaningless pejorative way that partisans use it but rather in the more traditional "plan of things to be done" manner. Like - these people have no problem statement with "here is how we will fix it".

[-] ZeroGravitas@lemm.ee 18 points 1 month ago

Private companies and consultants make millions on tax advice. Wrongly filed tax returns result in fines. Need I continue?

[-] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago

Yes, causing chaos is part of their "plan of things to be done."

If you want to know their agenda, read Project 2025.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Bronzebeard@lemm.ee 17 points 1 month ago

The government providing a free service that private companies charge for is considered overreach by the wealthy elite who stand to gain from holding a monopoly over access to a necessary thing.

[-] Draces@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Disclaimer: I don't agree with this but providing a possible rationale. They believe the government is overreaching because "easy" tax filing has been privatized and it would harm those businesses. Never mind those businesses harm people

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 83 points 1 month ago

The sooner average Americans realize that these people are America's enemies, the sooner we can do something about it.

[-] Jhex@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

So you are saying we better not wait standing up?

[-] LadyAutumn 75 points 1 month ago

Cruelty is the point. The goal is to make the lives of impoverished people harder.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 73 points 1 month ago

You'd think that if DOGE was really DOGE that this is the exact kind of thing they'd double down on and make really good, saving everyone shit load of money.

[-] Blum0108@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

You'd think that's the case, if you thought saving money or helping average Americans was actually their goal. The American government is being carved up as fast as they can get away with it. Gotta free up cash to give billionaires more tax cuts!

[-] Rajtinka@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Don't forget... Eliminating any government oversight that might affect their business interests...

[-] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

And eliminating any funding they can for media that will speak against them.

Edit: these people are directly tanking the platform Mr. Rogers had. The magic school bus, sesame Street, Arthur, Clifford, Barney, Reading Rainbow... They come from PBS, which is under attack by Elon Musk and Donald Trump

I get advertisements trying to give free pamphlets to kids about what Trump has done for our country and how he is saving it. He's looking for the fucking Hitler Youth. Period

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

Oh, you see, you fucked up like... three words into your comment

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 66 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In Denmark We've had easy tax filing on the Internet for more than a decade, and before that it was also extremely easy, as we got a form with all the usual data filled out, and we only had to send in if we had changes. I haven't done my taxes for 30 years!!!
Except when we bought a house we've had a few tax deductions on energy saving changes, which took 2 minutes to enter.

Every piece of standard information is collected automatically, like wages, bank info, stock profits, real estate taxes, and the rest if you have anything additional is super easy to fill out. The old paper tax return form is AFAIK completely abandoned since more than a decade ago.

USA under Trump with Elron Musk making it even worse is what we would call working like monkeys in a cage. If they really end this program, it makes it more difficult to do your taxes, AND cost tax payers MORE!!

[-] SacredHeartAttack@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Thanks, we know the rest of the modern world has it better in literally every way literally everywhere else. Can someone just like invade and save us please?

[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Unfortunately USA is extremely good at violence, probably the best in the world, so I guess you'll just have to fight it out amongst yourselves. But I wish all the best to all the reasonable Americans, that still believe in decency and democracy.

[-] QuincyPeck@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

This is most accurate and depressing assessment of the United States I have ever read.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[-] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 64 points 1 month ago

Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives

[-] rational_lib@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

How? If things get too hot here, they'll just move to another country. Oh... I see now. But then that's just passing our problems onto someone else like those South Africa bastards did.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[-] ricketyrackets@lemmy.ml 61 points 1 month ago

I love it when Nazi African fascists take control of the American monetary system.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago

How does he do this stuff? It's not like he's personally logging into the server and shutting down the website.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] hulfpa@lemmy.ml 53 points 1 month ago

Man who pays someone else to do his taxes makes it harder for people who do their own taxes because he doesn't seem to understand how annoying and frustratingly difficult it is to file in USA

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 42 points 1 month ago

He understands. His cronies make big bank from paid services.

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He thinks people with less money than him are inferior people, morally, intellectually and socially. If there's anything he's unaware of it's what a pathetic little man he is, and how billions of dollars can't fix that. But deep down I suspect he knows it.

[-] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 month ago

Stop thinking that these people are stupid and don't understand what they're doing. They know exactly what they are doing.

[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 47 points 1 month ago

Nothing makes the government more efficient than cleaning house on the group responsible for bringing money into the government and which has an ROI of 5.

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 46 points 1 month ago

According to Forbes, the only thing he actually deleted was the 18F's (group that created Direct File) Xitter account. Lol

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2025/02/04/irs-direct-file-still-working-this-tax-season-despite-musks-comments/

Really Musky of him to confuse the 2

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] edg@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago

Arrest his ass and lock him away for life!

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago

We can buy rope at Home Depot.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] perestroika@lemm.ee 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

A right-wing MAGA influencer called the "direct file" tax program a "far left /.../

Here in Estonia, the castle of "far left" in Europe (shh, don't spoil the joke, comrades, we want them to think we're dark red here ;) )...

...for something like 15 years already, you file your taxes like this:

  • some day in February, your internet bank reminds you to send a report to the tax office
  • you click "send"
  • some day in February, you read in a newspaper that "you can file your taxes now"
  • you open up emta.ee, log in with your ID card, and see a pre-filled declaration
  • if you're lucky (99% are), it's been filled correctly and you click "confirm", otherwise you click "edit"
  • you get to see if you have returns or need to pay extra
  • if you have returns, you can choose if you want the money (typically if it's big, you do) or want to donate the small change to a non-profit

It typically takes about 15 minutes.

If it's a bad year and the automatically filled declaration was incorrect, things will differ of course - then you wait until next winter for a court to resolve the dispute. If you can write a complaint in legalese, it costs about 20 €, but if you need a lawyer, you shell out real money. I've had a bad year once. Most people never have one.

load more comments (10 replies)
[-] mohammed_alibi@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

Deport this asshole back to South Africa

[-] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately, he's now an American citizen. Fortunately, we have treason charges for this kind of thing :).

load more comments (7 replies)
[-] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

Really increasing efficiency there. You know... efficiency aside, making it easier to file taxes is one of the very few things that can actually make more money!

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Empricorn@feddit.nl 26 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This unelected fascist has no authority. Fuck him. Ignore him and refuse access...

[-] bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 1 month ago

Oh man.

In Germany this would mean dismantling the only functioning digital government service. Haha.

I'd bet good money he's never done his own taxes in his life

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Prandom_returns@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago

"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"

"However, the Treasury Department confirms that the Direct File system remains active, offering free tax filing with customer support"

Big story. Is every tweet going to be a shocking story? Isn't that beneficial to the media who done nothing / helped install theese morons?

[-] TheObviousSolution@kbin.melroy.org 11 points 1 month ago

There's a term for this: entrapment.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
997 points (100.0% liked)

News

28270 readers
3807 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS