Articles published around the country repeat assertions by Mouintain View-based Intuit that an IRS pilot program offering free tax filing would hurt Black Americans. A researcher whose work is cited by Intuit says the company is misstating her findings.

Congress outlawed tax deductions on “wash sales” in 1921, but Goldman Sachs and others have helped billionaires like Silicon Valley's Mark Zuckerberg, Brian Acton and Dustin Moskovitz see huge tax savings by selling stocks for a loss and then replacing them with nearly identical investments.