good gawd

Crap. It bothers me when commercials try too hard to be entertaining and the message would be so much better if they just delivered the message without trying to be funny.

Jokes are kind of like farts. If you try to force one, it's very likely that shit will come out.

That was actually pretty good for getting the message across and grabbing your attention -- in a fingernails-scraping-on-blackboard kind of way.

@se7a7n7: Jokes are kind of like farts. If you try to force one, it's very likely that shit will come out.

Can I use that? That's beautiful.

Nothing like an aged pop culture reference to bring out the inner accountant in all of us. I want to pay taxes in Maryland now.

What commercial are they going to parody when the tax revolts start?

I'm pretty sure that could've been hilarious, if either person speaking/singing had any ability whatsoever.

As it was, it just looks like my high school class video class did it.

I'm all for Franchot making as many crappy commercials as he wants. I e-filed via Maryland's free system last Sunday and had my refund in my checking account by Thursday. Sing all the crummy power ballads your heart desires, Pete: your e-filing system rocks.

'Tis cute...especially for gubment work.

The first frustrated guy shouldn't have put in those granite counter tops and spent the money going to HRBlock

At least we know they didn't use any federal bailout money to make this thing, thanks to the terrible singing.

I must be overly sensitive to racial stereotypes, but did I just see a dumb skinny black guy in a long sleeved tshirt doing taxes with a pencil, and a smart fat white guy in a business suit, behind a computer on a nice wood desk, e-filing? Surely, I'm overreacting, right?

@sarahq: No, I don't want him making as many crappy commercials as he wants. Making 'em takes money away that could go into our refunds!

And yes, I filed.

@jblack: I guess you missed the fat white lady struggling with her taxes as well. If the black guy was the smart one, would it make you feel better?

@jblack: So...in your world all black people must be portrayed as being at least as smart as the nearest white person or else you feel...what? Guilty? Angry?

@jblack: On the other hand, they fought age stereotypes by having the old guy use the computer and the young guy using a pencil and paper.

Yep, looks like you are.

am i the only one that noticed that they poached the IRS e-file logo at the end there & chopped in "maryland" above it.

geez. at least use your own logos already. 1) maryland doesn't have an "IRS" & 2) your service is called "i-file".

Yeah, in light of the responses, I agree that I was overreactive. For what little my comment was worth, the resulting comments were excellent, and have me, at least, given a lot to think about.

@skizsrodt:

Please do even if you don't live here...we can use the money.

I used TurboTax to do my taxes, and it came with a free federal e-file, so I used that. But I would have to pay for a state e-file through TurboTax, or I could file online for free from the state - if I copied all the info off my turbotax form onto their web form.

Not worth it. I mailed in my forms - I can wait the extra week or two to get my money.

I hope they use the taxpayers money to make a better commercial next year.

I have a better solution-- work in a state that doesn't have an income tax. Simple.

I thought it was actually kind of cute. Better than car ads. Yeah, so it was lame, but it made me chuckle and it got the message across.

And I'm a Marylander.

Yeah, i filed my taxes the other day online- it took about 30 minutes all told, and the money was in my account about 72 hours later. I don't care how bad the commercial is, they did a great job with the site.

@rpm773: Go for it.

@STrRedWolf: Heh. Judging from the production values, I don't think that was an expensive commercial. I bet everyone in the commercial worked in his office or was a relative of someone in the office.