• It’s because the tax filing software companies lobby lawmakers to prevent exactly what you described. They want to keep the tax code complicated, so people feel the need to continue buying tax software every year. Seriously, tax software lobbies are some of the largest lobby groups in the country.

    • @Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world
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      68 months ago

      And the other half of that is that Republicans want to make paying taxes as difficult as possible so people will support tax cuts

      • @_dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz
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        38 months ago

        And to take it one step further, republicans want to see governmental agencies seem incompetent and fail, thus set the course for their regulatory capture.

        And seemingly right out of a super villain movie to further the above, is Project 2025:

        Established in 2022, the project seeks to recruit thousands to come to Washington, D.C., to replace existing employees to restructure the Executive Branch of the federal government as to further the agenda and policies of Donald Trump. The plan would perform a quick takeover of the entire U.S. federal government under a maximalist version of the unitary executive theory – a theory proposing the president of the United States have absolute power of the executive branch – upon inauguration.

        Scary times. To quote David Frum:

        If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.