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“They can’t hire that many agents, but they can create an army of crony, private, un-deputized agents who will tacitly aid the IRS’ in their goal of maximizing revenue.”

Everyone who prepares taxes for money is already required to file ACCURATE returns, to the best of their ability. Cheating to get clients is a good way to go to jail. If the IRS has reason to believe a tax preparer is filing fraudulent returns, the tax preparer had better get ready for jail or huge fines.

An education requirement will not prevent fraud, except for training in fraud detection. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a huge area of fraud, and the IRS has rules on “due diligence” on it. Tax identity fraud is another growing area, and training on detecting it might help a little.

Part of the problem with the income tax is that the government defines almost everything as income. If it was a “Wage and Interest Tax”, pretty much everyone could do their own for free - and do it accurately.

But politicians have turned it into income redistribution, and defined income as pretty much anything that might increase your net worth. So there are subsidies for child care built into the tax code. Obamacare payments and fines are built into it. If you sell land, the profit is income. There are rules for depreciation. Rent a room of your house out? That is income, and you can depreciate some things but not others. Sell stuff on ebay? Income. And hobby income is treated differently than business income, although no one can say for certain which is which. If in doubt, the courts (which are funded by government) always interpret the law to increase government income.

A consumption tax would be much fairer and much healthier for the economy, but government will NEVER give up the power to control via taxes. Taxes are not about funding government. They are about controlling people.