The contours of economic policy since the nation's founding have closely followed changing standards of fairness over time. Simplification of an overly complex structure was another important accomplishment of the 1986 reform. Unfortunately, tax code drift since 1986 has evolved to a point where taxpayers are again confronted with great complexity.
Indeed, an individual taxpayer may have difficulty even knowing his or her marginal tax rate because of the overlapping web of deductions and exemptions and the provisions that attempt to limit those deductions and exemptions. And many taxpayers are now required to compute their liability under two systems - the regular income tax and the alternative minimum tax.