>The politicians did nothing illegal by accepting the lobbying on behalf of TurboTax, after all. Under what rule or law would you punish them? Surely you can not fault politicians for earning money to continue to survive in politics, no?
First off, I never said anything about a legal punishment. Secondly, politicians are ostensibly supposed to act for the good of their constituents. Corporations are motivated to act for the good of their shareholders. In this situation TurboTax/Intuit is operating as it is expected/supposed to act while the politicians are not.
I'm confused why you are holding politicians to a standard that you are unwilling to apply to corporate entities, who serve politicians explicitly via the government and their corporate charter. Either both are acting according to their interests and we should examine outcomes, or neither are, and the system is broken.
Because the corporations are acting amorally while the politicians are acting immorally. Corporations are not obligated to better society. Politicians are. The corporations are ignoring something that is outside their responsibility. The politicians are ignoring something that is within their responsibility.
"Corporations" don't act. The people who manage them do. These acts are not amoral; they have real consequences for real people, and need to be judged as such.
Corporations may not be obliged to better society, but it is entirely reasonable for me to look upon them unfavorably when their management intentionally and knowingly takes actions that make life worse for most people.
It is very strange that you believe that an entity can engage with a government but then be absolved of all responsibility for the outcome of that engagement.
This weekend I drove to the beach when I could have just sat in my house all day. I personally benefitted by receiving a relaxing afternoon at the expense of creating extra pollution for everyone else on the planet to deal with. By your definition that is evil and therefore we are all evil.
I think this is where you erred in your reasoning:
> The corporations are ignoring something that is outside their responsibility.
Intuit is actively lobbying about tax preparation, ergo it is their responsibility, ergo they can be judged for their actions on it. In general you are correct, in the specifics here, you are incorrect.
First off, I never said anything about a legal punishment. Secondly, politicians are ostensibly supposed to act for the good of their constituents. Corporations are motivated to act for the good of their shareholders. In this situation TurboTax/Intuit is operating as it is expected/supposed to act while the politicians are not.