|
With the caveat that I am an economist who works in the area of tax policy, so the complexity is probably good job security for me, a few points.
-Our federalist system (each state has their own tax rules) is probably the biggest source of complexity for the typical taxpayer who only has wage income and small amounts of capital income. The federal taxes are usually pretty simple, but if you travel, work remotely, and/or move, state taxes get messy really quickly. Not much can be done at the federal level without fundamentally changing how our country is structured.
-In recent years, congressional budget rules has pushed more and more federal policy through the tax system. This is not ideal, but when advocates say "eliminate the filibuster" and simplified tax code isn't the first thing that comes to mind.
-There is often broad consensus that the tax code should be simplified, but not broad consensus about which benefits should get cut. This is analogous to conversations around bottom bracket standards. It's easy to get people to say there are too many bottom bracket standards, it's hard for everyone to agree on which ones to keep.
-The IRS introduced a system to allow people to file their taxes directly online this year. It's still a pilot, and can't cover every tax situation, but it's more than they've done in the past, and is at least an attempt to make filing taxes easier, although it doesn't actually make the tax code any simpler.
-Small business taxes are genuinely complex, and a huge source of fraud, but there are no easy solutions short of "don't allow businesses to deduct expenses."
|