Tax Code Continues Growing, Despite Warnings

72,000 incomprehensible pages

Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, wrote in her latest report to Congress that the United States tax code confuses Americans and burdens them with oodles of unnecessary work each year.

Olson sounds the alarm for a tax code that's steadily grown year-by-year as mostly well-intentioned lawmakers seek to please special interest by creating myriad loopholes, credits, deductions and penalties to control taxpayer behavior.

Many take notice of big government's creep, especially during April, when procrastinators work feverishly to finalize tax returns. According to Forbes, Americans will spend more than 6 billion hours on tax returns this year, amounting to about 8,758 lifetimes.