April 18 (UPI) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and two other U.S. lawmakers on Monday accused Intuit of hiring former regulators to defend TurboTax products that “scam American taxpayers” into paying for services that should be free.
Monday is the final day for Americans to file their taxes without requesting an extension.
In a letter sent to Intuit, the three lawmakers said they “seek to understand the extent to which Intuit has used former government officials to defend and maintain its unethical and potentially illegal practices that cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.” Reps. Katie Porter and Brad Sherman, both Democrats from California, also signed the letter.
The letter noted that Intuit and other financial services in 2003 successfully lobbied the Internal Revenue Service to create the Free File program. It was intended as a consortium of private companies, including Intuit, that would provide free tax preparation services instead of providing those services directly to low- and middle-income taxpayers.
But the lawmakers in their letter called the program “a failure,” asserting that it has…
