Sunday July 26, 2009, 6:37 pm

Reporting from Sacramento -- It was long into the wee hours of Friday morning, and the state Senate was teetering near deadlock on bills to close a $26-billion budget deficit when lobbyists for the software company Intuit approached Senate leader Darrell Steinberg.

For several years, lobbyists for the company had been trying to kill a state program that allows some California residents, mostly low-income taxpayers, to have the state tax board fill out their tax returns for free -- competition for Intuit's popular TurboTax software.

Now, as they stood in a hallway outside the ornate Senate chamber, the lobbyists asked Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to insert a provision into the budget bills that would dismantle the free tax-preparation program. "They were interested in, you know, a bill," Steinberg said a few hours later. Some Republican lawmakers had suggested that if that happened, they would be more amenable to voting for a key part of the budget plan.

State leaders had hoped that a marathon final meeting of the Legislature before members left on summer recess would finally mark a clear triumph over the legislative dysfunction that has left lawmakers seemingly unable to address the state's epic financial problems.

Instead, the 24-hour session leading up to final passage of the budget Friday afternoon turned into a slow-moving train wreck.

The power of Sacramento lobbyists was only one of several factors threatening to bring the Legislature to a halt. Steinberg turned aside the proposal from Intuit's representatives. But lobbyists for major interest groups were present throughout the night, seeking to influence the process. With hundreds of pages of legislative language passed with little time available for review, few knew what the fine print might contain.

(See story for rest of article)

This is another example of corporate greed putting profits over people. It's time to boycott Intuit TurboTax software until they change their policy of pressuring lawmakers into hurting low-income taxpayers.

Monday July 27, 2009, 1:35 pm
fine. then let intuit do some pro bono work. but that is never going to happen, which is why we have big government. and i'm sure intuit complains about that too.

Monday July 27, 2009, 1:45 pm
Dang it. This is an excellent tax software, but I guess I will have to change software, until they change their policy. Greed and power are saturated within the government, industrial, and small business sectors. It has been embraced by many people or "worker bees," too. Sad, but true. Noted, and thank you Tom.

Monday July 27, 2009, 8:40 pm
Thanks -- I do have to say California is down the crapper!!!! First of all they want to close our Parks, then shorten Shelter Animal stays, it just gets worse everytime I read the morning paper. Since I live in California this has become such a horrible problem that there are more empty business's than I care to count, and they can't fix the budget, the sales tax is 9.5% and you travel 5 miles the tax is 9.75%. Frankly, California probably should end up dropping off into the Ocean, sad to say that, but guess I would be swimming with all of the dead fishs! They should take their pockets that are so full and put that back into California's system. Never would happen....GREED GREED GREED.....Noted with total Disgust and Anger at my State's Government!!!

Monday July 27, 2009, 8:41 pm
Sorry Tom, got off the subject...just got to fired up!!!

Tuesday July 28, 2009, 3:00 am
thanks tom terrible situation

Tuesday July 28, 2009, 9:57 am
Well, it is time to return to H & R Block if that is going to be the attitude of Intuit. Thank you Tom.

Wednesday July 29, 2009, 12:37 pm
This is a message I received from a friend who told me I could post it here:

I don't feel comfortable with publicly posting my comment concerning the TurboTax makers wanting to get rid of the California state tax program, because these are personal things in my life and I don't want them broadcast all over the world. I live in Kentucky and have taken advantage of using my state tax program in which state treasury representatives help me file taxes.

I cannot go online to TurboTax or some of the free filing programs because I don't have a personal computer. The only way I can get online nowadays is through the library, and I don't feel safe putting in SSN and other information on a computer that doesn't always have the firewall and/or anti-virus software on. Many other low-income people I know are also in the same predicament, as they also don't have personal computers. I worry that if this program is eliminated, then it could end up spreading to other places. This will make it far more difficult for these people to securely file.

Thank you so much for posting that story.

Monday August 10, 2009, 4:32 pm
A new group of upper-income earners calling itself Wealth for the Common Good is launching a public campaign calling for a rollback of the Bush tax cuts on the highest tax bracket. The group says that rather than waiting for the tax cuts to expire in 2011, that Congress should repeal them now.