I mean, there are reasons the tax system is as complicated as it is. A big part is that the government does not agree on what the system should do.

One half (ish) wants a progressive tax system that applies more tax burden the higher your income and wealth are, and uses a bunch of different taxes (of various levels of progressiveness and regressiveness) to do it.

One half thinks any tax on anyone other than the poor is a sin.

Hard to reconcile those two positions, but it’s what got us here