Sec. Bessent to Sen. Coons Claiming IRS Direct File ‘Was Free’: It Wasn’t Free, It Was … $72 Million for About 300,00 Taxpayers

EXCERPT:

COONS: “Direct File was free to taxpayers.”
BESSENT: “Not to the American people. It's $138 per person, so $72 million for, as you said, about 300,000 taxpayers. There is an alternative, which is a public-private partnership Free File, which is free to the American people and filers. Over 3 million people use that. And for Direct File, more than 60 percent of the people who started their application didn't finish it.”