Justin Elliott,Paul

Reporter Justin Elliott has been a reporter with ProPublica since 2012, where he covers business and politics. In recent years, he was on the team of reporters documenting how the rich avoid taxes for “The Secret IRS Files” series. He co-wrote the story revealing tech mogul Peter Thiel’s multibillion-dollar Roth IRA. Previously, his work on TurboTax-maker Intuit’s misleading marketing tactics led to a settlement that delivered $141 million back to consumers. He has produced stories for outlets including The New York Times and NPR, and his work has spurred congressional investigations and changes to federal legislation. He has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, the Selden Ring Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for a series on the American Red Cross and, with the “Trump, Inc.” podcast team, a duPont-Columbia Award. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in history and classics. He can be reached on Signal and WhatsApp at 774-826-6240. How to File Your State and Federal Taxes for Free in 2020 TurboTax and other tax prep services advertised themselves as “free,” but we found several ways that they tricked people into paying. Here’s our guide to preparing and filing your taxes without falling into a trap. Jan. 10, 2020, 2:02 p.m. EST Latest Stories from ProPublica

Biography:  https://www.propublica.org/people/justin-elliott/p4

75%

The overall score is a weighted number that takes into account conflict of interest, bias, deception and other practices that undermines the credibility of the source. It is calculated as:
Analysis.OverallConflictOfInterestScore * 0.3F + Analysis.OverallBiasScore * 0.3F + Analysis.DeceptivenessScore * 0.3F + Analysis.ReadabilityScore * 0.1F

A score that takes into consideration the content for flow, interruptions with ads, and overt search engine optimization techniques that makes the content hard to understand

The Daily's Verdict

This author has a mixed reputation for journalistic standards. It is advisable to fact-check, scrutinize for bias, and check for conflicts of interest before relying on the author's reporting.

Bias

85%

Examples:

  • Intuit’s ad tactics have been dishonest
  • ProPublica revealed how millions of Americans were lured into paid tax preparation products even though they were eligible to file for free through a government-sponsored program.
  • The Federal Trade Commission has ordered the maker of TurboTax to stop what it called years of widespread deceptive advertising

Conflicts of Interest

50%

Examples:

  • He can be reached on Signal and WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
  • He has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, the Selden Ring Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for a series on the American Red Cross and, with the “Trump, Inc.” podcast team, a duPont-Columbia Award.
  • The article fails to disclose that TurboTax is owned by ProPublica’s parent company, which could be seen as a conflict of interest.

Contradictions

100%

Examples:

  • Intuit continues to tout free tax prep on their website even though most customers are not eligible for the program.
  • The title of the article claims that TurboTax has been ordered to cease “deceptive advertising” for free tax-filing software when in fact it was only ordered to stop a specific campaign and not all its advertising.

Deceptions

90%

Examples:

  • He can be reached on Signal and WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.
  • He has won numerous awards, including a Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism, the Selden Ring Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for a series on the American Red Cross and, with the “Trump, Inc.” podcast team, a duPont-Columbia Award.
  • The article fails to disclose that TurboTax is owned by ProPublica’s parent company, which could be seen as a conflict of interest.

Recent Articles

FTC Orders Intuit to Stop Advertising TurboTax as Free, Cites Deceptive Marketing Practices

FTC Orders Intuit to Stop Advertising TurboTax as Free, Cites Deceptive Marketing Practices

Broke On: Wednesday, 31 January 2024 The FTC has ordered Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, to stop advertising its tax filing software as free for many consumers who are ineligible. The company engaged in deceptive marketing practices and violated federal law prohibiting unfair business practices. According to the final order released on Monday (2024-01-23), TurboTax must inform consumers that most filers will not qualify for free tax filing services.