TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans from Filing Taxes for Free
I like to look at things from Buddhist point if view. Calfile "buys" you the saved 50 bucks (3 hours of work for most people?) x the number if people use it, especially if you understand the implications and your intent is clear. Of course, a practical Buddhist never "spends" the earned opportunities, but reinvests them to get even more opportunities, until the impact is measured in trillions of years. But that's philosophy. On the practical side, if I were you, I'd do two things: (1) open source this on behalf of the gov - it's important to get the "official" status; (2) advertise this over official channels: send them a green letter from ca.gov/irs that say there is such a tool. The software doesn't need to be perfect: the website that manages toll fees in my state is in stone age, yet it's official and it's better to have this site than not.