Ominously labeled "Taxmageddon," a host of tax policy changes are set to occur at year-end, and there truly is much at stake: $3.67 trillion of additional tax revenue over 10 years from the Bush tax cuts alone.

The tax code is 5,296 pages long and full of complicated details. We outlined a few of them in our recent column for the New York Times Magazine. So why hasn't Congress done anything to simplify the tax code? We posed the question to Alan D. Viard, a tax expert at the American Enterprise Institute. His response is below.

Alan D. Viard discusses the complications posed by the needless complexity of tax incentives, income-based phase-outs, and the alternative minimum tax.

The White House has proposed a “Buffett Rule” mandating that taxpayers earning more than $1 million pay at least 30% of their income in federal income taxes. The unfairness the Obama administration has identified is only one limited, albeit  eye-catching, manifestation of more systemic problems in the tax code.

The fact that firms are surviving several years after the filing bankruptcy is itself a testament to the efficient functioning of the U.S. bankruptcy system. It suggests that the bankruptcy system goes a long way toward helping businesses recover and resume operations after a bankruptcy filing.

One White House proposal deserves to be considered by policy makers in both parties who are looking for ways to improve the tax code.

In testimony before the President's Task Force on Tax Reform, Alan D. Viard describes ways to simplify and improve the federal income tax system.

Twenty-five changes to personal and business income taxes could improve the simplicity, efficiency, and fairness of the income tax system.