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Good point by Howard Gleckman:
Collecting money has become a secondary goal for the income tax. These days it is too often a tool for the government to manipulate social and economy policy. Want people to get their health insurance through their job? Give them a tax break. Want farmers to grow corn for ethanol? Give them a tax break. Want to encourage more people to buy houses—even if they can’t afford them? You got it.This, of course, is why tax simplification is hard. Taxes would be easier if you couldn't deduct mortgage interest. But people like being able to deduct mortgage interest! Simplification debates tend to come down to please simplify out all the bits of the tax code that I don't personally profit from. If you have enough people who benefit from enough different bits saying that, however, simplification becomes impossible.
