Actually reforms in the IRS are part of each candidates platform (see the IRS is affectable by the people through the politicians that the people vote for).

McCain wants to have a simpler system
Obama things the IRS should send out pre-filled out forms to most americans.
I forget what it is but Hillary has something

As for the "fair" tax nobody argues that it isn't simple. They oppose it because its progressive taxation the other way (taxes the poor more than the rich instead of our current model which taxes the rich more than the poor).

If you can come up with a tax that is that simple while still being progressive you might really have something.

Not really talking about the tax rate. That's an entirely different problem. I'm talking about the way that you interact with the IRS so that whatever the tax laws are you may use technology to enhance the lines of communication, and protect the American citizen.

The problem with this is, too many unethical people are profiting from the complexity of the system - namely accountants and tax attorneys - to the tune of approximately $100 billion per year. So these folks will lobby the government to prevent these reforms - just so they can keep making money being the middle man for a gang of people who steal from you by threat of force, or force if the threat isn't sufficient.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

ROTFL. Mainstream candidates talk about reforming the IRS, but it never really happens. I'll believe it when I see it.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

This is a good example of slave mentality. "Massa takes what I earn, but massa give me food and give me a place to stay. Massa so good to me."

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

Right, and it's an entity that has a monopoly on the use of legalized force. It can send armed men to your home to take money from you when it wants more money.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

It is kind of strange that the IRS has almost all he information it needs to assess whether we owe or they owe us and yet they require you to fill out a bunch of forms by a deadline or charge fines.
They should just assume on the info they have unless offered more info by deadline... then issue you a check or a bill. It would save the average 1040-taxpayer a lot of time and money... and possibly cut a big chunk out of the bureaucracy.

What's even stranger to me is why people seem to go along with the assumption that tweeking the taxes on labor is somehow the way to get taxes to be fair. These days no one brings up the old arguments about the ownership of land and natural resources- something that came from no one's labor.
So while we argue amongst ourselves about income tax or maybe a sales tax, the upper 1% controls a high concentration of the land and natural resources while the banks own much of the rest (though we pretend this is owned by "homeowners") and barely pay anything in income tax due to most of their income being from capital gains and assets...

But we'll continue to attack the poor saps who are dependent (for worthy reasons or unworthy ones) on a small amount of the total budget while we use most of the "entitlements" to pay for middle class people that are trapped in a consumerist overspending mindset and to subsidize the industries of the wealthy while upholding the system that allows them to own a majority of the property in the country... including things which no human had any part in creating.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III