I agree there are exceptions, and even in the ideal world, many Americans will still end up having to submit something. But I think that starting from zero is s

I agree there are exceptions, and even in the ideal world, many Americans will still end up having to submit something. But I think that starting from zero is silly. The IRS already knows a lot about our income - they must, that's part of how they check the correctness of our returns. I think a system where the IRS says, "Here is what we know about your tax situation. We have calculated your taxes. If we owe you, and you agree, you don't have to do anything. If you agree, and you owe us, please pay us. If you do not agree, ammend this information and submit, with payment if necessary." Forcing each American to start with a blank form seems wasteful, to me. It's a reproduction of work. I absolutely agree with your upthread comment about taxes being inherently complex, so please don't mistake my comment for an argument against that point. But I think that many Americans would be able to just accept what the IRS suggests, or at least use what the IRS says as a starting point. I think that the existence of the 1040A and 1040EZ forms support this point. (I tried finding numbers on how many people use those forms, but could not.)