My entire life (in the US) there has been the idea floated that our tax code should be simplified to the point where filing can be done on something the size of a postcard.
We absolutely could do that, but the government has no incentive to do so. At least in the US, taxes are a form of control, a source of power for those in charge, a political chip for elections, and a mechanism to further the wealth divide. Taxes are not primarily meant to fund our government, and definitely don't include goals related to making the average person's life easier.
This idea is "floated" by the exact people who make taxes complicated in the US.
Every time they insist they want to "simplify" taxes, they demonstrate that what that means is just another tax break to wealthy businesses.
The DOGE team shut down a simple tax filing system the IRS had freely made available.
It's republicans. Stop saying "Government" when it is republicans
Form 1040 isn't even complicated! But republicans have convinced millions that the IRS is going to black bag them for missing a decimal point somewhere.
Guess what! The IRS is not funded enough to care! They will send you an automated form saying "We fixed it for you, here's how much you owe/are getting back". You can even ignore that letter and you won't end up in prison! They just seized a couple of my state tax returns!
The issues you raise are important, they also aren't partisan. The specific system used for filing, while important, has nothing to do with how simply or complex our tax code itself is. If they want to make it possible for me to file half a dozen forms through an IRS-run portal rather than TurboTax, great but that doesn't simplify the tax law.
Both parties are responsible for the complexity of our tax code, how long they allowed TurboTax to run the show, and how poorly the tax revenue is spent.
We absolutely could do that, but the government has no incentive to do so. At least in the US, taxes are a form of control, a source of power for those in charge, a political chip for elections, and a mechanism to further the wealth divide. Taxes are not primarily meant to fund our government, and definitely don't include goals related to making the average person's life easier.