True that the US tax system used to be a lot worse and a lot more vindictive. See the hearings during the nineties that led to IRS reform. Horror story after horror story.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a great system now. I would favor dropping exemptions and moving to a lower flat tax, for instance - taxes by postcard. Probably never that way for businesses, but for 9-5ers, it should be way more straight forward than it is now.