Direct File Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COONS. Mr. President, today is tax day. Today is a day when millions and millions of Americans file their returns. On average, Americans spend about $270 and 13 hours preparing their taxes for filing. That is just nuts. That is a higher expense and a higher amount of time than millions of Americans should be spending. Look, for people who have complex holdings and lots of economic interests, that is one thing, but for tens of millions of Americans, the Federal Government already has all of their critical data, and their tax filings should be quick and free.
The simple idea behind a bill that I am cosponsoring with Senator Elizabeth Warren the Direct File Act is that there ought to be a program. In fact, there used to be a program. Congress told the IRS several years ago to create a way for Americans to file their taxes quickly, simply, and for free, and they started a pilot program. The IRS started a pilot program called Direct File in 2024.
I used to be the senior Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the IRS and was actively involved in trying to develop and improve this program just from the Senate's side. It was exciting to me to get the initial reports that hundreds of thousands of Americans used Direct File in its first year, and after several years, they demonstrated that, on average, folks were saving $160, and 90 percent had a positive experience--either an above-average positive or an excellent experience. Many did their taxes in less than an hour--13 hours?--1 hour--accessing all of the government information that they had already in their database and then simply confirming it and filing versus having to work with someone and pay someone to prepare their taxes.
Well, President Trump shut down this program last year. Why? I don't know, but it is certainly uncomfortable that there was a major donation to his inauguration from the leading company that makes you pay taxes to file taxes--that makes you pay a fee to them to file and pay your taxes.
So, folks, today on tax day most Americans are looking for whether there is a way for them to file quicker, cheaper, and more easily. Three-quarters of Americans feel like they have paid as much as they expected, if not more, this year in spite of the No. 1 priority of the Republicans in this body last year, which was a big tax bill that gave tax cuts to millionaires. Working Americans did not see the tax relief from the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that they expected. They mostly saw cuts to healthcare and to food assistance.
It costs $160, on average, to pay someone to prepare your taxes. Well, that may not seem like a lot to a business executive--to a big tax company executive--who got a big tax cut himself, but it means a lot for tens of thousands of my constituents, of working Delawareans. It does not have to be this way again next year. We should pass this bill and, once again, make it easy, free, and fair to file your taxes.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I am excited to join with so many of my colleagues in advocating that, by unanimous consent, we simply reopen the path toward easy, free tax filings for Americans next year.
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