On: The strength of a monopoly can be guessed at by ca...

[ghouse]

I've got some sympathy for the IRS (in this limited case) -- their budget is cut by small-government crusaders, thus reducing service, angering taxpayers and thus aligning public sentiment against the IRS. Same political ideology also works to make the tax code more complicated, also achieving the same objective.

But then they're prevented from simplifying - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17751383

[United857 → ghouse]

It's not so much the fault of those who want small government, but actually the likes of Intuit, etc. lobbying against tax code simplification so they can protect their business models: https://www.propublica.org/article/filing-taxes-could-be-fre...

[hueving → ghouse]

Large government ideology doesn't help the tax code either. Complex tax codes are a result of special tax breaks for any purpose.

[rtkwe → hueving]

Poor service though is more about lack of resources than the complexity of the tax code.