But if you eliminated deductions and lowered the rate (hypothetically, yielding the same result) that would simplify the code.

I never said it wouldn’t. I simply said that most people wouldn’t support that.

Also, under every “simplified” tax code I’ve seen proposed thus far, most people would actually pay more taxes, with only the people on the extremes (of wealth and poverty) paying less. IOW, simplified tax codes shift even more of the tax burden to the middle class. Which is why they never gain much rank and file support.

So people in theory support simplified tax codes (i.e., make my taxes easier), but in practice, they rarely do. They want their taxes to be simpler, and their tax bill to be at worst the same and at best noticeably lower than it is currently.

The founders would have changed this alright….and not by voting.

If you had lots of deductions, you would probably lose out. Relatively few, and you end up doing better. If you are slightly above average, you probably do fine just on the reduced complexity.

Particularly if you have a large mortgage, you would probably lose out. I’m currently thinking of buying a home in the bay area (which is insane by the way), and the mortgage interest and property tax deductions have been factored into what I can afford to pay each month. I will have to adjust my withholdings with my employer when I buy. Which brings the next point, which is that the real estate market would probably suffer.

Lawmakers continue to insist on a Byzantine, gordian mess of a tax code …

At the end of the day, it’s not really the lawmakers who insist on this, it’s the individual taxpayers. Oh, sure, they’re all for tax simplification, but only if you don’t take away my deductions:

The poll finds 70 percent think the tax system is too complicated. However, only 45 percent of respondents say they would favor getting rid of some deductions and credits.

Try, for example, taking away the deduction for home mortgage interest, and see how long your political career lasts.