There are plenty of good ideas on how to do this, for example: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/how-to-really-simplify-the-tax-code/ http://economix

There are plenty of good ideas on how to do this, for example: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/how-to-really-simplify-the-tax-code/ http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/how-to-really-s... Unfortunately, the political will to implement these ideas is almost entirely lacking. Also, while most people claim to object to tax credits to special interests in principle, in reality they only object to tax credits that other people enjoy.