Since we're drawing weird analogies with technology platforms anyways,
Refactor refactor refactor. Sure, tech companies have the grand luxury of having fewer stakeholders to be accountable to, but surely it's possible to refactor, refine, and reduce the tax code every so often?
The problem is getting the politicians to give up their favorite features in the process of removing these bugs. ;-)
Indeed.
To drag the analogy further, the politicians are being engineers of the tax code when they should really be its product owners. Should politicians really be responsible for the minutiae of how many numbers to put where, or should they simply give higher-level directives, such as "incentivize alternative energy"?
I think it very well might be. At least with how everyone actually utilize taxes. After all, government routinely utilize taxes (or rebates) as incentives to create desired outcomes.
You want more businesses moving into your area? Change the taxes. You want more home-owners? Change the taxes. You want more money for education? Change the taxes.
That's how you arrive at complex tax codes. It goes well beyond income taxes as well. You want a simple income tax? Fine, but I'm going to use sales taxes, road tolls, and a whole host of other mechanisms to get the desired behavior.
So it may not be an inherent property of taxes, but I'm not sure those things can ever really be separated.