Every year it’s the same thing in the USA: we receive a bunch of tax documents like 1099s, W-2s, etc. and all of them say “a copy has been provided to the IRS.” Oh really? Then why can’t I log into the IRS website by January 31 and see all of the documents. Why, at that point, can’t I already be provided an estimate of what the IRS already thinks my tax liability will be? And if everything were already there, why couldn’t I just click “OK” and be done? Or if I need to provide more information such as my own business income, why couldn’t I do it right there on the site?

The reason is what I call the “incumbency problem.” We’ve reached the point in this country where we can’t actually address, much less solve, any of our societal problems because it would be bad for some sector of the economy. That sector will lobby against any public policy changes that would affect them negatively. Thus, we can’t solve the tax complexity problem without destroying the accounting, tax preparation, and tax law industries. A universal vaccine against cancer would gut wide swaths of the medical sector. The “drug war” employs tens of thousands of people including the DEA, FBI, prisons, police forces, and Coast Guard — not to mention plenty of lawyers. I could go on.

I hear from people in Europe that they just get a tax bill every year and pay it, like our property taxes here.