The basic elements are not much busywork at all. For a person with only wage income, or maybe even a little interest & dividend income and perhaps one contracting payout, its pretty simple.

The busywork comes mostly from the arcane and convoluted nature of US tax code, notably the parts that describe deductions and credits. US governments use such things as a way to implement policy, and the crap just piles up over time. Can you deduct X? How much of X can you deduct? Are you eligible for a credit? Or just part of a credit? Or none of it? etc. etc.