Tax prep companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have what you might call a vested interest in U.S. tax policy — and, specifically, in ensuring it stays complicated enough that their services remain necessary for millions of Americans.
In 2016, ProPublica reports, these two companies alone spent a combined $5 million on lobbying efforts, a portion of which opposed "return-free filing," a system in which the IRS would generate pre-completed income tax returns for many Americans who have a fairly simple tax-filing process.
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