Most people use very few deductions, and most people use the same credits it deductions. Tax software shows that's it's trivially simple for the vast majority of of people. Where tax law gets complicated is high net worth, self employment, or business ownership. If love for taxes for these people to be simpler, but realistically if you need these deductions that aren't already captured by the IRS you should be hiring a competent tax professional. There's no reason the vast majority of Americans need to file except that it's intentionally painful to make people hate taxes, the IRS knows how much you make and what you owe because they already receive your tax documents from the organizations that provide them to you.