re: Letter from Donald Rumsfeld to I.R.S. - "Have no idea if tax return is accurate"

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If you did away with all exemptions, politicians would lose an important tool with which to pay back their contributors. Will never happen.

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This.

Rummy's mistake was that he sent the letter to the wrong people. He should have sent it to Congress.

Why is the tax code so complex? Every law in it was passed by congress, to either favor or disfavor a particular group. It was signed by a president.

Don't believe me? Remember a few weeks ago when Dave Camp released his tax reform provisions? Who was talking about it the most? The hired lobbyists of every industry/group in the country, who loved the idea of tax reform, but please don't take away my tax break.

IRS rules are so dang complicated because they are trying to explain and allow for laws that were written by a bunch of lawyers who have no idea about how finances actually work.

IRS rightfully gets blamed a lot, because they, well, don't exactly employ the smartest people in the room. That having been said, they are left to interpret a complex tax code, and have to do it with fewer and fewer resources. Why? Cause the Dems in Congress want to give them more authority (i.e. Obamacare) and the GOP wants to cut their budget.

And for those of you are worried about CPAs losing their jobs... I have very few clients who know what their actual income is. If all of your income is repored on statements, you don't need a CPA to help with your taxes. It's determining what is income, what is deductible, and what is a credit, that is the hard part.

A flat tax may do away with credits, and deductions, but it won't by itself make figuring out what is taxable any easier.