Cost to efile california state tax is $19.99 but the program is trying to charge me $24.99. why?

Fees increased effective March 1.  You can avoid that state e-file fee if you print and mail the state instead.

arghhhh  I understand how to avoid it, thanks however it just won't work in this case.  but thank you for the info~ it feels wrong, somehow~

Sorry, the early discounted prices always expire in March.  The box and prices do say Subject to change.

Shady and deceitful.  If a company has to fall back on tiny little * pointing to micro-size fine print all the time, then that's a very good sign they know they are just baiting people. Sad.