973
Musk says he 'deleted' IRS easy filing team that let Americans file taxes for free online
(www.rawstory.com)
Is he heavily invested in TurboTax or something?
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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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.
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!
Don't forget... Eliminating any government oversight that might affect their business interests...
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
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Oh, you see, you fucked up like... three words into your comment
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The sooner average Americans realize that these people are America's enemies, the sooner we can do something about it.
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I think I'll skip paying taxes this year, my religion states I cannot support terrorist groups.
I think our best bet is to 'delete' Musk.
Not religious, but my ethics, and laws against aiding and abetting should also apply.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientious_objection_to_military_taxation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Freedom_Peace_Tax_Fund_Act
but also: Office of Chief Counsel Internal Revenue Service Memorandum https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-lafa/20133303f.pdf
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.
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.
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How the hell does this lower costs?
right-wing influencer criticizing the program as government overreach.
So the right is against self-service now? wtf
This version of the right wing is against any service provided to the public for free which their own companies could profit from by charging for it. And they also, as a matter of principle, believe that the poor should be punished, and punished again.
So the right is against self-service now? wtf
You may want to look into Grover Norquist and his organisation Americans for Tax Reform. It is one of the most influential political lobbying groups in the United States, and it has the support of essentially the entire republican party. They essentially consider tax to be evil on principle and ask every politician to sign a pledge opposing any tax hike.
ATR is strongly against automatic filing, as they want to keep taxes difficult and complicated to stoke anti-tax sentiment. That is to say, they fear that if filing tax is easier, citizens would be less likely to fight taxes in the way that the ATR wants (mostly they like a low flat tax, because it's simple and good for rich people).
It's just a poorly constructed lie to funnel more money to their corporate masters.
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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.
This movement simply has no real agenda or philosophy - they just want to burn everything down.
That is the agenda
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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.
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Cruelty is the point. The goal is to make the lives of impoverished people harder.
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i always just look up this year's 1040 and just fill it out myself. easy finances though...
been meaning to get an accountant this year. we'll still do paper filing if e-filing is "deleted" lol
I hate the american tax system. Not more than wiccans, but still a whole lot. Especially since I just read of a bunch of comments saying how great their tax filing is... Musky needs to be arrested, he's obviously destroying services that make our lives as citizens easier. That's what the federal government should be, easy and comprehensive to citizens and cold and mean to people like El(t)on musk
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I really don't know why, but every time I see Space Karen trying to be such a sooper kewl edgelord, I think of this clip...that and the very end of the movie, too....
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!!
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?
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.
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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
He understands. His cronies make big bank from paid services.
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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.
"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?
Oh man.
In Germany this would mean dismantling the only functioning digital government service. Haha.