That’s not going to happen.

Lots of people are making a buck on disfunction and overly complicated tax laws. Those same people know how to lobby lawmakers. Who’s lobbying for a simpler tax system?

No, because Intuit is still going to keep lobbying against it.

Not sure why this is downvoted. This is factually accurate and a major factor in why we haven't seen tax reforms.

Take a look at my comment history for the past 2 weeks if you want to see a bunch more unexplainable downvotes. I've also been repeatedly IP banned multiple times during the same period, sometimes even multiple times a day, which has never happened before. I don't spam requests to the site, and haven't changed my browsing habits a whit. I've emailed admin and they won't even acknowledge me as a human. It's pretty maddening, actually.

Not sure what's going with your account but I upvoted you.

I logged back in just to do that. Downvotes should cost.

How has the influence of lobbying been counteracted in other cases?

In general, it hasn't. Unless there are at least competing interests with similar sized bank accounts or a _very_ strong and _very_ vocal preference from voters, lobbying wins.

We've legalized bribery in America, we just call it something else.

No. Most of the complexities in the tax system are due to tax incentives and exemptions that the tax payer needs to verify.

What percentage of Americans do you genuinely believe file non-standard taxes?

All I see is a potential "tax bill" system that would simplify the process for the vast majority of Americans, and the percentage of Americans who file non-standard taxes can continue to do so no different than they do already.

Have you seen the questions in a standard tax return? Lots of stuff the govt has to validate - are you blind, do you have dependents, etc.

If you wanted a truly hands off tax return you’d need to revamp a ton of the tax law.