IF PREPARING AN INCOME TAX RETURN IS TOO COMPLICATED (AND IT IS), THEN WHY NOT JUST MAKE THE INCOME TAX SIMPLER?

I used to prepare my own tax return using just the Form 1040 instruction book and the paper form.  I did it in pencil first, then wrote a final one in ink.  I did it that way for many years.  Sounds hopelessly old fashioned now, doesn’t it?
Why did I quit doing it that way?  Because it just became too time consuming.  It wasn’t that my financial picture became more complicated.  The steps required to complete the forms kept multiplying, as the Form 1040 instruction book kept growing.
I decided to try tax preparation software.  Boy, am I glad I did.
Senator Warren apparently thinks that the solution to the problem of people like me giving up on preparing tax returns without help is to have the government compete with the purveyors of tax preparation software.  She’s introduced legislation titled the Tax Preparation Simplification Act of 2016.
The irony of that title is apparently lost on the Senator and her colleagues.  If they could eliminate just one word from that title, and pursue that as their goal, they would have the right idea.