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Exactly. W-2 and 1099 income is really straight-forward. If anything the IRS should provide ways for you to submit all your non-W2/non-1099 income to them and roll them up into a new form so that no matter what your situation you can "fetch" your current returns, sign them, and submit them. No need for third-parties at all. Any additional complexity is a symptom of rent-seeking IMO.

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It would be incredibly easy to set up a step by step flow to intake basic info or to confirm the numbers and hit send.(if not doing alway with you doing the taxes)

I can only suspect that this hasn’t happened because of strong lobbying.

You are saying that IRS should write a TurboTax competitor.

Honestly if a company exists solely to solve an inefficiency they lobby to create, that’s not something I care to defend. Taxes are in the public interest and as such profit is just not a concern of mine. There’s plenty of other ways to make money than regulatory capture and rent seeking. I want the IRS to do what’s best for Americans and that is either providing a way to file free of charge or eliminating the complexities of the tax code. I don’t care which.

The IRS isn't authorised to simplify the tax code, it would have to be Congress.

Fair point. I guess that just leaves a free filing tool :)

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