The American income tax system is broken

If there's one thing all Americans can agree on, it's that our income tax system is terrible. Navigating through the rules is a nightmare, and no matter how little or how much people pay in income taxes, they almost always end up feeling cheated.

Here are my top five reasons why I hate our income tax system:

1. Too complex – Even the professionals don't understand the entire code. There are volumes of books dedicated to translating the rules and helping tax preparers learn how to apply them. The number of different rules is astonishing, and it's no wonder that many mistakes are made on tax returns. Why have a system that the average taxpayer can't understand? Why make it so difficult that most people can't even prepare their own taxes anymore?

2. Loopholes to benefit special interests – It's no secret that all the special deductions and credits have their roots in the special interests of one group or another. Why is there a tax credit for one industry, but not another? Because the one with the tax credit probably lobbied more and threw more money at lawmakers. It's not right. It violates a basic sense of fairness and guarantees that the free markets aren't working on their own. We want the free market to decide what industries and activities are the most efficient and worthwhile. We don't need the government intervening to give a special advantage to one industry, at the expense of others. That's exactly what parts of our current tax code do.