IMO: The mind blowing element, is that in the grand scheme of things It's not actually that much money.

I'm not sure if anyone knows the true amount, but estimates put the number spent on lobbying around a few million dollars. Opensecrets.org estimated ~$3.2m lobbying in 2021.

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary...

For a company that makes $2 BILLION dollars a year, the amount they actually spend lobbying and otherwise influencing governments is shockingly small.

That's not exactly true. Free filing is also opposed by influential conservatives. The argument goes that if paying taxes were easier, then people wouldn't pay as much attention and oppose taxes as much. (I'm paraphrasing as best I can.)

Here's an old article from 2013 on it, for example, and a letter from Grover Norquist (sponsor of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge) and others.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-maker-of-turbotax...

https://www.atr.org/taxpayer-advocates-issue-joint-free-file...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Tax_Reform#Taxpa...