{"id":23564,"date":"2026-04-23T01:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/dems-go-after-trump-for-ending-free-tax-program-but-fine-print-steals-the-show\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:11:17","slug":"dems-go-after-trump-for-ending-free-tax-program-but-fine-print-steals-the-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/dems-go-after-trump-for-ending-free-tax-program-but-fine-print-steals-the-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Go After Trump For Ending \u2018Free\u2019 Tax Program But Fine Print Steals The Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative\" data-narration-container=\"true\">\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the decision to cancel the IRS\u2019s Direct File program during a Senate exchange on Wednesday, arguing the \u201cfree\u201d service cost taxpayers $72 million annually.<\/p>\n<p>During a hearing, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) pressed Bessent on why the program was scrapped, calling it \u201cfree and easy to use.\u201d Bessent pushed back, saying the service was only free to users, not taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t free,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cIt was $72 million for about 300,000 taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roughly 60% of users did not complete their filings through the platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChrisCoons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@ChrisCoons<\/a>: \u201cWhy\u2019d you shut down Direct File when it was free and easy to use?\u201d<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecScottBessent?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SecScottBessent<\/a>: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t free and the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Coons: \u201cDirect File was free to taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bessent: \u201cNot to the American people. It was \u2026 $72 million for about 300,00 taxpayers.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fdku7e4vBh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/fdku7e4vBh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CSPAN (@cspan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cspan\/status\/2046965475934863719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bessent argued that taxpayers could instead use private options such as FreeTaxUSA to file federal returns at no cost.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS launched Direct File as a pilot program to allow taxpayers with relatively simple returns to file directly with the government, bypassing private tax preparation companies. It was rolled out in phases with limited eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a supporter of the program, has proposed legislation to reinstate it.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense for [President Donald] Trump and [former Trump adviser Elon] Musk to get rid of Direct File\u2014unless they want to do a big favor for giant tax prep companies by squeezing more Americans into paying for those products,\u201d Warren said, pointing to Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Treasury officials have instead pointed toward expanding the existing Free File program, which relies on private tax software companies to provide free filing options for eligible taxpayers, rather than building a permanent government-run system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/dems-go-after-trump-for-ending-free-tax-program-but-fine-print-steals-the-show\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the decision to cancel the IRS\u2019s Direct File program during a Senate exchange on Wednesday, arguing the \u201cfree\u201d service cost taxpayers $72 million annually. During a hearing, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) pressed Bessent on why the program was scrapped, calling it \u201cfree and easy to use.\u201d Bessent pushed back, saying [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-current-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}