MAKING TAX RETURN FILING SIMPLE AND FREE FOR MOST TAXPAYERS IS A WORTHY OBJECTIVE, THE QUESTION IS HOW TO GET THERE

A public interest group thinks that it’s the fault of Intuit that tax filing isn’t simple and free for most taxpayers.  You know who Intuit is: they make Turbo Tax, the most popular tax preparation software.  The public interest group says that Intuit has lobbied vigorously against measures that would have by now made it unnecessary for taxpayers to pay for Turbo Tax, or any other tax preparation software.
I don’t doubt that a company with as big a stake in tax preparation as Intuit apparently has would lobby against the government replacing their product with its own.  But, as I have said before, tax return preparation isn’t complex and expensive because of Intuit.  Tax preparation is complex and expensive because the tax code is complex.  
Another factor here that makes me less inclined to blame Intuit is that I get advertising all the time about Turbo Tax and competing products offering free filing for simple tax returns, and the government does have its own Free File service.  
And one more thing (I’m not defending Intuit, really I’m not): when was the last time that the government made anything having to do with taxes, or anything else, simple?