Here’s something to keep in mind as you wait in line at 11:30 PM on April 15th: filing your taxes could be so, so much easier. Bills have been put before Congress that would let taxpayers choose to have the Internal Revenue Service calculate their taxes due for them, and send them a bill or cut a refund check accordingly. Only there are companies lobbying to keep things exactly as they are. The biggest spenders aren’t accounting firms, or even Big Tax Cat. It’s Intuit, the maker of popular tax-filing program TurboTax. The company has spent more than $11 million lobbying to keep tax returns around forever. [More]
Intuit (TurboTax) Spends Millions To Keep Us From Filing Taxes Quickly And For Free
By March 27, 2013
Lawsuit: NYC’s Metropolitan Museum Of Art Misleads Visitors Into Paying High ‘Suggested’ Admission Price
By March 25, 2013
When you ask for a ticket at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, you get charged $25. Because that’s the admission price, right? Not so fast! As the fine print says, it’s actually a “suggested donation.” You have to pay something, but that “something” could be a penny that you found on the sidewalk. Upset at this, two museum-goers have filed a class action lawsuit accusing the museum of misleading the public. [More]
Consumer Advocates To Senators: American Airlines & US Airways Merger Would Hurt Fliers
By March 19, 2013
Today American Airlines and its betrothed, US Airways had to defend their proposed merger in front of a Senate hearing and several consumer advocates. Citing higher fares, reduced service to smaller communities in the U.S. and a loss of competition among carriers, opponents of the impending nuptials testified at a Judiciary Committee hearing that such a joint venture would hurt consumers. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: A Recovering Slacker, An Incompetent Accountant, And The Tax Return Of The Dead
By March 11, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles readers’ questions about taxes, but he got his tax refund early this year and is on vacation, taking a salmon-watching cruise on the Pacific coast. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
Scammers Have Servicemembers In Their Sights: The DOJ Says It’s Time To Fight Back
By March 8, 2013
Like all consumers, servicemembers of the United States can fall under the sway of scammers seeking to take ‘em for all they’ve got. But due to their specific circumstances they’re often the focus of a wide range of fraudulent businesses and other predatory practices. [More]
Air Marshals & Flight Attendants Not So Happy With This “Knives Are Okay On Planes Now” Thing
By March 6, 2013
Yesterday the Transportation Security Administration announced that it was tweaking the rules regarding small pocketknives, carry-on golf clubs and other sporting equipment. While travelers sick of losing their Swiss Army knives and other little blades rejoiced over the decision, groups representing Federal Air Marashals and flight attendants are all like, “Wait, hold up — knives on planes? Really?” [More]
I Am Sequestration, Here Me Roar: FAA Closing 173 Air Traffic Control Towers
By March 6, 2013
While the government warned of annoying long lines at airports across the country as a result of the budget cuts imposed by the March 1 sequestration, things haven’t seemed too bad yet (except for the usual weather woes). But it sounds like air travel is on the way to getting more annoying, as the Federal Aviation Administration says it’s going to shut down 173 air traffic control towers at smaller airports around the country on April 7. [More]
White House Cancels Public Tours As Of March 8, Citing Effects Of Sequestration Budget Cuts
By March 6, 2013
Sure, the White House is home to President Barack Obama. But it’s also kind of viewed as America’s house, leading tourists from around the country — as well as the world — to sign up for free tours to view the premises. You never know when you could catch a glimpse of the First Family, or heck, maybe even their dog, Bo. But after March 8, the administration says those tours are going bye-bye as a result of budget cuts. [More]
Ask Tax Dad: Employer Gas Cards, Student Loan Interest, And Escape From New York
By March 5, 2013
Usually, our staff Certified Tax Cat handles questions about taxes, but he’s recovering from carpal tunnel paw surgery. Filling in for him is Laura’s dad, a retired accountant and real live independent tax preparer. Exclusively on Consumerist this spring, Tax Dad answers your questions. [More]
Standing In A Long Line At The Airport Right Now? You Can Maybe Blame Sequestration
By March 4, 2013
The Department of Transportation issued a foreboding warning about the effects of across-the-board government spending cuts if sequestration went into effect on March 1, which it did. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano is already warning travelers of delays, but if you’re currently standing in a long line at airport security, this isn’t news to you. [More]
Senator Introduces “Do-Not-Track” Bill Saying Industry Failed To Protect Consumers Voluntarily
By March 1, 2013
Far from sitting on his laurels as an outgoing Congressman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia is gearing up to go out with a blaze of consumer advocacy. He’s set to retire at the end of next year after championing consumers during his career, but before then will be working on the “Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2013,” a bill he introduced yesterday. [More]
Tax Dad Sez: Send Us Your Questions For Consumerist’s Designated Tax Preparer
By February 26, 2013
Seriously old-school Consumerist fans might remember Ask Meghann’s Dad, where readers sent in questions about electrical wiring and home repair, and Mr. Marco was all competent and helpful. During a meeting to think of new story ideas, we remembered this and asked ourselves: what other experts do we have access to who are also related to us? Why, there’s our very own Tax Dad, independent tax preparer John Northrup. [More]
How A Homeowners Association Went Bankrupt Because Of One Obama Yard Sign
By February 11, 2013
Back in 2008, a couple in Olde Fairhaven, Virginia put up a sign in their lawn showing their support for a presidential candidate. This simple action led to a feud that has raged for years and cost the neighborhood homeowners association hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now the HOA is broke, and the central “town square” that turns a clump of townhouses into something resembling a community is up for sale. [More]
Man Quits His Job, Won’t Pay Taxes After Receiving W-2 Number 666
By February 7, 2013
If there’s any number that freaks people out in Western culture, it’s 666, the supposed “number of the Beast” in the Bible’s book of Revelations. A Tennessee man who says that he’s been a born-again Christian for a decade was pretty spooked when he received the 666th W-2 earnings statement that his employer had printed. Now he’s quit his job and refuses to pay his taxes until he gets new, Beast-free paperwork. [More]
Book Returned To New York Public Library Almost 55 Years Overdue
By February 6, 2013
It may disappoint fans of the TV program “Seinfeld,” but the New York Public Library doesn’t really have its own detectives who track down biblio-scofflaws with severely overdue books. If it did, it would have long ago tracked down the patron who checked out a copy of Fire of Francis Xavier in 1958 and didn’t return it until this week. [More]
Woman Sues California Pizza Kitchen For $5 Million, Shocked That Frozen Pizzas Could Be Unhealthy
By January 31, 2013
Sure, you could assume that because it’s illegal for restaurants in your state to use trans fats in the foods they serve, a frozen meal branded with the name of a restaurant chain wouldn’t have trans fats in it. You would be wrong, but you’re certainly free to make that assumption. That’s what a California woman who bought some California Pizza Kitchen frozen pizzas thought, though. Now she’s suing Nestle, the company that makes CPK frozen meals, for $5 million in a class action suit, intending to save us all from the hidden poisons that are actually disclosed on the back of the box. [More]
Raleigh Government: Flushable Wipes Aren’t Flushable And Clog Sewers, So Cut It Out
By January 30, 2013
Sewer lines in Raleigh, N.C. keep getting clogged. What’s to blame? Aging infrastructure? Rapid population growth? Massive sale on prunes at a local grocery chain? Well, not really: officials say that the latest clog, and a few previous ones, are allegedly due to huge wads of non-flushable paper in the pipes. They point specifically at non-flushable “flushable” wipes marketed for cleaning home surfaces and people. [More]
How Tide Became An Underground Currency
By January 18, 2013
Everyone loves Tide, from the toddlers who gobble detergent pods to the criminals who boost it and sell it illegally. Some people even do laundry with it. The real question at the core of the Tide trade is this: How did bottles of brand-name detergent become a de facto currency? Why this brand, Tide? Where do the bottles come from, and who is the end consumer who actually pours the Tide in their washer? [More]
