I don't doubt that part of the equation.
Here's my beef, as succinctly as possible:
I'm not a numbers guy by any means, but I've done ok for myself.
Like many other things in life, I feel tax preparation is best left to the pros (if only for the headaches that a simple error would cause me). In years past I've had complicated stock sales, forced ESOP redemptions, options deals, business expenses, self employment, mortgage, the usual.
Last year I threw in an SCorp for good measure.
The forms made my head spin. I paid my tax guy about $250 and was happy to do it, I can sleep well at night, as far as that goes.
The point is tho, that we've elected the people who have enslaved us to this god forsaken tax code. If we had any sense we'd rise up against them!
The kicker that really ticked me off was that I sold one of my kids' funds to roll it into a tax free 529 fund.
Doing so generated gains of about $860. Since the cutoff is $750, or thereabouts, he had income, in the eyes of the IRS, of $110. I paid my tax guy $65 for the forms and sent $8 to the feds.
This is no way to live.
You've made the case quite well.
All of that utterly non-productive stupidity would disappear into history under the NRST.