I agree that's the main problem that needs to be fixed, but even so some people and most business will still need to file taxes because the federal government i

I agree that's the main problem that needs to be fixed, but even so some people and most business will still need to file taxes because the federal government isn't omniscient. It would be better if those people had free software to do do their taxes on. I could imagine a scenario where everyone from your average taxpayer to a large corporation uses the same desktop application to pay taxes. For most taxpayers, they'd fire it up and it downloads all the relevant data from the IRS and asks you if it's correct -- done in five minutes. If people need to add more information they can enter it. You could accomplish the same thing with an IRS website, but I think it's a little better if there's a desktop app that talks to the IRS over a standardized API, as it means users aren't locked into using the app if they don't want to, and if the source code is available then if someone wants to add features or improve the interface, they can. It's also good to have the business logic be out in the open in a way that users can inspect and change. (Best case might be an app that can run either as a stand-alone desktop application, or as a web app. The IRS could run their own instance for users who just want a website with the default experience and don't want to install software. States could also run their own instances with whatever extensions they need so you can figure out state taxes at the same time.)