On Saturday, John Edwards unveiled a proposal to have the IRS prepare tax returns for certain taxpayers:

For as many as 50 million Americans, the IRS gets all the information it needs to calculate taxes from employers and financial institutions. As part of Edwards’ plan, the IRS would calculate the tax bill and mail it to them on a Form 1, where they could verify and recalculate it or simply sign and return it.

This sounds like a federal version of California’s ReadyReturn, which was used in 2004 and 2005, and was used by about 10,000 taxpayers in that state.

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be too much for conservatives to object to in this proposal. It’s optional, and is only used for the folks whose already-collected data indicates that they’re simple cases. In California, that meant single filers who have one source of income and who take the standard deduction. I saw some objections from conservatives who contended that ReadyReturn didn’t lower tax rates or simplify the tax code, but that’s not really what it was designed to do; the program is supposed to save time and effort for folks who have very simple tax circumstances.

I suppose one could object that this helps the people who need it least and who can already file the 1040EZ, but it would still save a few hours for people who don’t really need to fill out forms; they’re just duplicating the effort of their employers and banks. And, as Edwards points out, this system would alert people that they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

In California, the folks who write and sell tax-form-preparation software didn’t like it, for obvious reasons.

So, to Hillary Spot readers – am I missing some angle? Is there some drawback or flaw to this idea that I’m missing? I understand the instinctual, “I don’t trust the IRS to calculate what I owe,” but this program is voluntary (I guess there could be fears that someday it won’t be).

In other words, has our most populist Democratic presidential candidate stumbled across a good idea?