The alternative to a convoluted tax system which treats everyone fairly (analyzed in the context of each individual provision, not overall) is a simple tax syst

The alternative to a convoluted tax system which treats everyone fairly (analyzed in the context of each individual provision, not overall) is a simple tax system which treats everyone equally poorly. Taxes are like C: a low-level language for effecting systemic policy. Under the U.S. Constitution, it is one of the primary vehicles through which Congress can enact national policy (the Commerce Clause generally being the other). If you do not need low-level access to the "hardware" of society, you use something other than taxes, but recognize that attempting national policy will be incredibly more complex and/or inefficient than using the proper "language." In this sense, it is obvious why tax systems get more complicated: they take on more functions over time. This is the same reason that operating systems (also written in C) get larger and more complicated over time.