Progress is happening. Note that ProPublic's reporting you link to was the genesis of the IRS' below decision to end their agreement to not compete against Turbotax. Progress, of course, should be moving faster to deprecate the need for third party tax preparation tools (as is the case in most other developed nations). Call your representative(s), tell them this policy matters to you. Each letter, email, and phone call is counted.

Part of Intuit's $80 billion market cap depends on taxes continuing to be hard to file directly with the IRS.

https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-reforms-free-file-pro... (IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete With TurboTax)