Legislators write the tax code. Their primary incentive is re-election. From that perspective, an unfathomably complex tax code has three points in its favor

Legislators write the tax code. Their primary incentive is re-election. From that perspective, an unfathomably complex tax code has three points in its favor: 1. It allows legislators to avoid accountability for any tax increases. It also complicates revenue accounting, so they can propose changes to the tax code and call them "tax cuts" even if they don't change revenue much overall. 2. A complicated, arbitrary, intimidating tax code makes legislators powerful. They can grant favorable treatment to their friends and twist the arm of powerful entities that get in their way. They aren't held accountable for this behavior because of #1. 3. Accountants and tax lawyers are small groups of people who will all lose a lot if the tax code is ever simplified. They also have money and connections, so they can inflict a lot of pain on anyone who threatens their business. The public at large is too big and diffuse to force political action over its losses to tax-related friction. A complicated tax code has one major point against. Voters don't like it. But then, this is a tax code we're talking about. Its purpose is to take away voters' money. No matter how it's organized, they aren't going to be terribly happy about it. So is the tax code we have today really all that surprising?