Filing taxes is already free. Well I guess you have to pay postage.

> The average taxpayer spends $150 and 9 hours a year on their taxes

Not in a meaningful way for most people

I'm not sure how much control the USDS that developed DirectFile (or whatever was left of it) had over that given the reasons that article cites for the confusion

> The IRS deemphasized the program on its website, the report said, and the media coverage this filing season focused on the question of if the tool existed or would continue to in the future.

> Billionaire Elon Musk caused confusion in early February when he posted on X that the team powering Direct File was “deleted,” leading to headlines like “Elon Musk says he 'deleted' IRS Direct File. Can taxpayers still use the free service?” Direct File saw a drop in use after that.

To be honest, I'm impressed there was even a 16% traffic increase this year at all.

Ask yourself: Could this website have been written anytime in the last 8 years? If so, why wasn't it? Given where we are now, the stat I gave, and that only a small number of people are mourning something important speak to my point?

> Ask yourself: Could this website have been written anytime in the last 8 years?

No? It was authorized by the IRA, which was only passed in 2022.

> Given where we are now, the stat I gave, and that only a small number of people are mourning something important speak to my point?

I mean, I wouldn't expect regular users to mourn anything until tax season rolls around next year and people find the tool is missing; even still, I actually have seen a lot of people mad about this, not that it matters. And I still think 16% growth after months of reporting about it getting shut down isn't bad.

Obviously I’m talking about the USDO, Jesus.

That wasn't obvious to me, because in that case the answer to why this website wasn't created in previous years seems obvious - because USDS wasn't being demolished in previous years.