Not a fan of The Atlantic on a range of topics, especially geo-politics, but a great write up on the relationship between tax accounting industry, lobbying and U.S. tax codes (painfully and daftly complex) here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/american-tax-returns-dont-need-be-painful/586369/. Worth a read:
Of course, the solution is to make tax filing for ordinary income taxes simple, and to make tax codes more streamlined. A flat tax would work. Charged across all income at one rate. Or a flatter tax, with a schedule of just two or three bands, applying, again, across all income.
