I have personally found that when the government wants more of your money through taxes, they tend to raise taxes or lower credits or do something to incentivize behavior. They don’t tend to try to confuse people into not knowing what they owe and thus only private companies can get me the lowest taxes. So I don’t find that argument persuasive.
I do think the tax code is too complicated, but don’t think that’s a conscious choice by some government official or office. It’s a result of small changes by many generations of people over long periods of time. It does seem like it could be simplified, yet the IRS also seems to know how much most people owe because it’s reflected in forms like W-2s and 1099s and such. So maybe they should just send most people a transmission telling them how much the IRS thinks they owe, and provide the refund or a bill accordingly, and whoever disagrees with the assessment can file.
I do think the tax code is too complicated, but don’t think that’s a conscious choice by some government official or office. It’s a result of small changes by many generations of people over long periods of time. It does seem like it could be simplified, yet the IRS also seems to know how much most people owe because it’s reflected in forms like W-2s and 1099s and such. So maybe they should just send most people a transmission telling them how much the IRS thinks they owe, and provide the refund or a bill accordingly, and whoever disagrees with the assessment can file.