Making things a little easier

In Massachusetts, we have until April 17th to file our taxes while most of the country just finished tax season. I know that between searching for various tax forms and dealing with the hassles of everyday life, it's a stressful time for a lot of folks. This year, House Democrats invested in making filing taxes easier for millions of people.

Big tax prep corporations know tax season is stressful and time consuming. They prey on working families by promising a stress-free, convenient tax experience, but what they deliver is endless attempts to sell unnecessary "upgrades", horrible customer service, and hidden fees. On top of that, they somehow manage to take a chunk of your hard earned annual income from your return.

No one likes this routine. But thankfully, it won't be this way for long. For millions of Americans, there is a new, free way to file your federal taxes this year.

Thanks to expanded funding from Democrats, the IRS announced that it has begun running a pilot of their Direct File program for qualified taxpayers. Under this program, taxpayers in a select few states, including here in Massachusetts, will be able to file their taxes directly with the IRS and cut out the corporate middleman, avoiding those unnecessary fees and allowing you to keep hold of your tax return.

This is what good government looks like: standing up to special interests and working to make things a little easier for ordinary, working Americans.

True to form, the Republican Party is already working overtime (at the behest of their corporate buddies) to make sure this program doesn't expand to cover even more states next year. The only way to ensure that programs like these continue to expand and help millions is to elect a Democratic majority.

It's not going to be easy, but supporters like you are the ones who make change like this possible.

Yours in the fight,

Jim