Tax prep companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have what you might call a vested interest in U.S. tax policy — and, specifically, in ensuring it stays complicated enough that their services remain necessary for millions of Americans. In 2016, ProPublica reports, these two companies alone spent a combined $5 million on lobbying efforts, a portion of which opposed "return-free filing," in which the IRS would generate pre-completed income tax returns for many Americans who have a fairly simple tax filing process. Return-free filing has been discussed but not realized in Washington for decades.