Our tax system is deliberately misleading and confusing.

An old friend used to say they have so many ways to pluck the chicken he does not realize he is bald.
The Tax you point out is the INCOME TAX. First of all it is the most hated tax. It is perhaps the most obvious tax so we pay most attention to it. The income tax is roughly 20% of the total tax our government takes from us. Most of us do not realize this. Look on your cell phone bill about 1/3 of it is taxes that you pay. Actually part of the non-tax part of the bill is taxes that whoever you provider is pays-that too is in your bill. You fill up your car, golf cart or whatever. They no longer show it on the pump but the price you pay per gallon is about 1/3 taxes. Again, you also pay the taxes that the station owner and the oil company pay-IT IS IN THE PRICE YOU PAY. We all pay taxes-hidden or not.
Our current tax code is 86,000 pages-this is simply crazy.
It is a matter of BUYING our politicians. Why is interest on a mortgage deductible but interest on a car loan is not unless you take a home equity loan-WHY? Why is there a line in OUR TAX CODE that makes Starbucks a manufacturer with lower tax liability then a retail store.
Our bought and paid for politicians say it is because they roast coffee-com-on now. I do not smoke BUT, cigarettes are now like $10.00 a pack the cost is pennies-the rest is tax. Same is true of liquor.
There was talk of a flat tax. We heard all sorts of screaming from our politicians. They told us it would put the burden on the poor AND WE BELIEVED IT. In the real world-NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH OBAMALAND, a rich person buys a home for say 2,000,000 and the flat tax is say 2% the tax is $40,000. A middle class person buys a home for 200,000 and then at 2% the tax is 4,000. A poor person buys a mobile home they are like 50,000 and the tax is at 2% $1,000. There are of course books on the subject. But, the truth is we will not get a flat tax because it removes much power from our government.