https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2018/07/18/tax-filing-...
https://www.businessinsider.com/house-bans-free-government-t...
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/03/22/521132960/epis...
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2018/07/18/tax-filing-...
https://www.businessinsider.com/house-bans-free-government-t...
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/03/22/521132960/epis...
Norquist is a great example of a lobbyist worth examining. He's a real piece of shit. His group is Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). Their 2019 sheet shows $390k spread across 6 lobbyists who did not hide their representation; they had opinions on a variety of issues and bills, all related somehow to taxation. [0] Intuit's sheet shows spending of $1.28m in that same time period, spread across at least ten firms, including dozens of revolving-door politicos and industry insiders, all aimed at one single piece of legislation: The Taxpayer First Act of 2019, an attempt to modernize tax legislation and filing processes. [1] Surprisingly, ATR has officially said nothing about the Taxpayer First Act, despite Norquist's well-publicized position against such efforts.
To recap: Intuit spent 3x what Norquist's group spent, and focused that spend on one specific bill which would have eased tax filing. If Norquist is a piece of shit, what does that make Intuit?
[0] https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientlbs.php?id=D00004709...
[1] https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientbills.php?id=D000026...