Direct File Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here on tax day to highlight how the Trump administration has made filing taxes more costly, more complicated, and more time-consuming for working Americans. Nobody likes paying taxes. It is painful, but this administration somehow has managed to make it even more painful. From eliminating a free, easy-to- use tax service program to cutting funding and staff at the Internal Revenue Service, the Trump administration has made it needlessly harder for millions of Americans to meet their tax obligations this season.

On tax day, we recognize there is an obligation. Most Americans fulfill it. But, at the very least, the government can make it less painful, not more so. But, in late 2025, at the behest of giant tax preparation companies like TurboTax and H&R Block, President Trump canceled the popular Direct File Program. That was a free online service that allowed taxpayers to file their Federal income taxes directly with the IRS.

By every measure, believe it or not, this government program was a runaway success. It received overwhelmingly favorable reviews. Remember, this is a service enabling people to pay taxes, and people loved it. Ninety percent of survey respondents ranked their experience as ``excellent'' or ``above average.'' It was estimated to save the average taxpayer $160 and hours of their time.

In short, this program worked. No more third-party companies nickel- and-diming taxpayers with expensive rates and junk fees. It was just straightforward, no cost, an option that hundreds and thousands of families relied on to pay their taxes.

And studies projected that a full-scale, permanent Direct File Program would have saved Americans $11 billion annually in combined filing fees and time costs.

The Direct File Program also helped lower income families because they were able to access millions of dollars in unclaimed tax credits, with projections suggesting it would have delivered up to $12 billion in additional tax credits annually. That is a lot of money. As costs increase for everything--food, housing, healthcare--this program was an easy way to give working Americans a well-deserved break.

But the Trump administration canceled the program. It caved to the tax software companies, and, yet again, it put profits over people. Frankly, this is just stupid. It is dumb. It is crazy, if you consider the public interest.

Americans are required to pay taxes. So the Federal Government should have an easy way for them to do it, and I am proud to have introduced the Direct File Act with my colleagues. Our bill would reinstate the Direct File Program and prohibit the IRS from entering into agreements that restrict its ability to provide these free services.

Sadly and unforgivably, Republicans are opposing the Direct File Act. I guess, instead, they are cozying up to the Big Tech companies and putting corporate interests above those of everyday Americans. You would think, in this kind of issue, we would have common ground. It is an easy issue.

And taxpayers deserve better from the IRS. They need an Agency that is fully staffed, adequately resourced, and capable of delivering timely, reliable service, including refunds.

A lot of people say: Oh, well, the IRS. We hate the IRS.

Well, you hate the IRS until you are owed a refund or until the IRS makes a mistake because they are understaffed or because they don't have modern technology that could save all of us money.

And that is why I recently sent a letter to the IRS, urging them to take immediate steps to ensure it is fully prepared to meet American taxpayer needs during this 2026 filing season.

President Trump seems to be on a mission to make life more difficult and more expensive for Americans, and he seems to be succeeding. Eliminating the Direct File Program, as well as cutting funding and reducing staffing at the IRS, is simply increasing costs and making the system more difficult, more painful, more onerous for all taxpayers-- maybe except for the millionaires and billionaires who can well afford their accountants and wouldn't use the Direct File Program. But for most of the people of America who want to pay their taxes and do it, it simply imposes an additional unnecessary burden.

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