Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Political Embellishment and Poor Journalism

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Dick Hall-Sizemore
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by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Some Virginians, along with citizens in the rest of the country, will be able to receive refunds from the company Intuit, the developers of the TurboTax automated tax return preparation program. According to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, approximately $3.5 million will be available for distribution to Virginians.

“TurboTax misled Virginians, and now they are officially paying the price,” Attorney General Miyares said in a statement. “I’m proud that my office was able to put that money back into the affected consumers’ pockets, where it belonged all along.”

There are a couple of things wrong with this statement. First of all, his office had virtually nothing to do with the settlement. Second, the announcement is late; the settlement was reached a year ago.

According to ProPublica, the settlement was reached after an investigation by state attorneys general, led by Letita James of New York. The case that served as a vehicle for the settlement was filed by the Attorney General of California in federal court in that state. The Oversight Committee established in the agreement does not include the Attorney General of Virginia.

Miyares’ office is not going to be involved in the distribution of the funds, either. The funds will be distributed directly to eligible persons by the settlement administrator, Rust Consulting.

The settlement was reached a year ago and other attorneys general announced it then. For example, there was New York and California. It was also covered in the national media. See here, here, and here.

The case involved Intuit hiding the availability of free service sponsored by the federal government for taxpayers with an income under a certain threshold and enticing them to use TurboTax’s paid service.

Miyares is certainly not the first politician to embellish his role in obtaining a desirable benefit for voters. However, any politician who engages in such embellishment needs to be called on it.

The newspaper article also illustrates the low state to which the Richmond Times-Dispatch has sunk. The headline focuses on Miyares’ announcing the availability of the funds, thereby giving the politician a little free publicity. The editors obviously did not realize that this is year-old news. Finally, the story itself is largely a rehash of the releases put out by Miyares’ office. Virginians deserve more from the newspaper located in the state’s capital city.

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31 responses to “Political Embellishment and Poor Journalism”

  1. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    “TurboTax misled Virginians, and now we will, too.”

  2. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    “TurboTax misled Virginians, and now we will, too.”

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Filling out even the most complicated Virginia tax return should be part of the SOL… for 4th grade. Why anyone would buy TurboTax is beyond me.

    1. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      Indeed. For $120/year, I engage a reputable CPA firm to prepare state and Fed returns with refunds directly deposited to my bank account. Quick books by Intuit is my backup for all financial transactions.

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        That makes sense for a complex return, but not necessary for simple ones.

        Also, anyone can have refunds deposited directly for free.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Virginia is headed to the all electronic money handling. There is a limit on checks now. If you owe, or are paying, more than $1000 (something like that) it HAS to be EFT between the bank. No checks.

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Many things are electronic or otherwise online these days. I had to do everything for my mother when she was alive.

            Someday technology will probably overwhelm me as well. That’s what children are for I guess.

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            Will they take cash, or is this phrase just another lie?

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3685af4d50d0bcc88f7af482c38915d9289a76a1b40dcf1623dd7af9267eca87.jpg

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        The hardest part of a VA760 is figuring out just how much of that damned $259 bucks for income producing spouses you’re entitled to.

        Oh, and just make sure you pay “Safe Harbor” so you never have to tackle that Goldbergian 2210.

      3. Lefty665 Avatar
        Lefty665

        So you think that $120 is a good fee for paying your way past a 4th grade SOL requirement?

        You get what you pay for. $120 to a CPA gets you about as much witting service as $120 to a lawyer.

        Nice that you give loans to the state and Feds through over withholding and they pay you back in arrears with inflation devalued dollars.

        Talk to a CPA or auditor about Quick Books. It’s a scary dangerous program. It will let you shoot yourself. Be very afraid.

    2. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Because Turbo Tax sub totals, foots and carries numbers through to all the forms. Enter the data and you’re essentially done. I’ve been using it since well before Intuit bought it and have considered it money well spent. I still file on paper on GPs, but I do turn the duplexer off on the printer so I don’t p*off the IRS but so badly..

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        I’ve made enough stupid math errors or omitted some things in years past that I now use one of the programs. I like the review/error check process.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Oh? You make math errors? Now you’ve made me wary of your calculations in articles. 😉

        2. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Yeah, the sub totals, cross footing and form generation are worth the price of admission. Enter the data and it’s pretty much done. As you say it adds the bonus of an error check that is a pretty good sanity test.

          Preventing inadvertent mistakes is worth the price. I just want to pay what’s due without drama.

      2. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        Did I read that correctly? You don’t file electronically? Much faster, and certainly as safe as the USPS.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          But not worth paying a premium for.

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            Unless you buy extras, FREETAXUSA is free for Federal.

          2. Lefty665 Avatar
            Lefty665

            You pays your money or your time and you takes your choice.

            For me not having to re enter all our static tax information each year, then doing it again for state filing plus re-entering all the $$, and learning a new interface and program logic adds value I’m willing to pay a moderate (and deductible) fee for.

          3. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            I concur, I utilize taxslayer. It’s an online utility that keeps my information and carries it over.

      3. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        I, too, am a paper filer. Don’t like electronic forms, and it forces me to read all instructions with the whys and wherefores.

        Plus, the off putting phrase “trusted third party vendors” just ticks me off.

        Trusted? By whom? Vendor? BS! I refuse to pay money to pay money!

      4. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        I used TurboTax for several years but found this to be much better, and cheaper.

        https://auth.freetaxusa.com/

        Prior to using TurboTax, I was quite happy to do it myself on paper, and use the free service provided by Virginia for state taxes.

  4. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    As Steve observes, an Attorney General will participate in a few dozen multistate settlements during his or her term in office. Every one of them blasts out a press release, and every one of them claims as much credit as he or she can plausibly claim.

    Here is the press release: https://oag.state.va.us/media-center/news-releases/2567-may-4-2023-attorney-general-miyares-announces-distribution-of-141-million-settlement-to-millions-of-low-income-americans-deceived-by-turbotax-owner-intuit

    The press release makes it clear that the settlement was announced in May 2022. The news hook is not that the settlement was announced but that checks from the settlement are finally flowing. So, there’s nothing deceptive about any of that.

    Where Miyares pushes the envelope is this quote: “I’m proud that my office was able to put that money back into the affected consumers’ pockets, where it belonged all along.”

    If the AG’s office is involved in the identification of affected taxpayers and involved in the distribution of the funds as a flow-through entity, his office is putting the money back into consumers’ pockets. So, technically, Miyares is not saying anything inaccurate. But the statement leaves readers with the impression that he deserves some of the credit for obtaining the settlement…. which was likely long in the works before he even became AG.

    I wonder how that differs from press releases issued by Miyares’ predecessors.

    Dick’s larger point about lazy reporting at the RTD is sad but true. The newspaper is working with a shrinking staff and much of its “reporting” consists of re-writing press releases.

  5. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    As a note of interest, the IRS is developing its own online filing software as part of your account services. No more “trusted third party vendors” with whom you have to share your personal data and information to enjoy the speed of electronic filing. In addition, they information the have, e.g., W2, 1099s, will be prefilled. One would assume that will help in guiding the required forms. Maybe.

  6. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Yes, with these multistate cases, several if not all state AG’s claim a big share of the credit, often without much justification. But as I read the RTD story, Miyares is mainly informing people the time has come to make the actual claim for payment. The second paragraph is clear the settlement was reached a year ago. There will always be a lag between the agreement and the actual payout, bound to be longer if it is large class of plaintiffs. Maybe cool your jets.

    When I was in that office, the big case was the omnibus settlement with the tobacco industry. Our staff certainly took part in the discussions on what the settlement would be and how it would be used. I signed off on a nine-figure settlement transfer that came into our escrow account to then move to Treasury. Could I capture just one night’s float for our own budget? No dice… 🙂

    1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
      Eric the half a troll

      “When I was in that office, the big case was the omnibus settlement with sellout to the tobacco industry”

      A bit more accurate…

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Yes, the tobacco industry came out on top, and preserved its future by making governments a bunch of addicts, too. Addicted to the annual checks…But then, my boss was the AG of Virginia, still a major tobacco state.

      2. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Yes, the tobacco industry came out on top, and preserved its future by making governments a bunch of addicts, too. Addicted to the annual checks…But then, my boss was the AG of Virginia, still a major tobacco state.

        1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
          Eric the half a troll

          Proverbial (literal?) deal with the devil…

      3. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Yes, the tobacco industry came out on top, and preserved its future by making governments a bunch of addicts, too. Addicted to the annual checks…But then, my boss was the AG of Virginia, still a major tobacco state.

        1. Nathan Avatar
          Nathan

          It’s also unfortunate that much of the tobacco money was spent foolishly.

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    As a note of interest, the IRS is developing its own online filing software as part of your account services. No more “trusted third party vendors” with whom you have to share your personal data and information to enjoy the speed of electronic filing. In addition, the information they have, e.g., W2, 1099s, will be prefilled. One would assume that will help in guiding the required forms. Maybe.

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