I miss the simplicity. For better or worse lobbyists are part of the US political system that won't go away any time soon. The "right to petition" is granted under the First Amendment. The intent was probably different from the reality, especially in regard to access to government for individuals. Lobbyists seem to be the gatekeepers, and only corporations can pay the fees.

When it comes to individual action many people are protective of things that are not necessarily in their best interests. Anything that threatens the freedom of the individual trumps everything else even if the alternative is slightly better. This happens with healthcare reform, to corporate taxation, to individual taxation (where people want to keep the status quo just in case they "get rich").

I seem to recall that there's something about the way the way that the US income tax works, legally, that prevents that from happening. That is, your income tax has to be something you pay rather than something someone pays for you.

Most people have their employer automatically deduct a chunk each paycheck. The annual forms are to figure out exactly how much you owe and whether you need to make up the difference or get a refund check. Most people get refunds.

It's more complicated for the self-employed, or if you don't want to loan the government money for free.

Most employed people in the UK also have their employer deduct taxes from their paychecks. The difference, though, is that if that happens and if someone doesn't declare their tax affairs as being more complex, the tax authorities assume everything is order and no tax return is required.

I suspect other things have an impact on this system working though, such as the much lower ownership of shares and tax-attracting investments in the UK, as well as the generous tax-free allowance for capital gains (I'd need to make a realized gain of something like $20k in a year to pay any tax on shares, for example.)