Another Tax Day looms. Our annual tax ritual requires the average American to expend more than 26 hours filing a standard 1040, and more than 60 percent of us will seek professional help. The reason: The U.S. tax code now exceeds 60,000 pages, and those pages often give conflicting advice.

No wonder Jimmy Carter declared back in 1976 that our tax system was a "disgrace to the human race." It inhibits economic growth and promotes corruption. Tax Day has become an embarrassing national symbol of waste and abuse.