Would You Let the I.R.S. Prepare Your Taxes?
But Intuit’s opposition to return-free filing has been ferocious. In the last five years, according to disclosure documents, Intuit spent nearly $13 million on federal lobbying. That is about the same amount that companies many times its size have spent on lobbying. Apple, which has an annual income about 40 times that of Intuit, also spent about $13 million on lobbying in the same period. While documents show that Intuit lobbies on several issues, including immigration, cybersecurity and intellectual property law, the company’s largest lobbying contracts all involve the issue of tax administration.
.. In 2006, using an independent expenditure group known as the Alliance for California’s Tomorrow, Intuit sank $1 million into the race for California state comptroller in support of Tony Strickland, a Republican who opposed ReadyReturn. Mr. Strickland lost to John Chiang, a Democrat, but Intuit’s money was nevertheless effective.
“It was a huge signal to politicians everywhere how much Intuit cares about this,” Mr. Bankman said. “People in other states who had been interested in it started saying, ‘We just don’t want to pick a fight with Intuit.’ ”