Specifically, because a lot of taxpayers could…uh, use a hand here:
A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that the combination of the weak economy, and efforts by the IRS to promote its [offer in compromise] program for helping taxpayers pay off a portion of their outstanding tax debts has increased the number of requests for offers by 28 percent between fiscal years 2007 and 2011. At the same time, the resources available to work on the offers have decreased, creating an inventory backlog and delaying responses to taxpayers.
“Perhaps the most telling indicator of taxpayer confusion over the code’s complexity is that today, 90% of individual taxpayers pay for professional tax preparation or tax software to prepare their tax returns. IRS research estimates that, over the past 10 years, the burden for the typical taxpayer has increased by about 20% and would likely be even more if they had to prepare returns themselves without any aids or tools. Moreover, we estimate individual taxpayers and businesses spend more than 7 [billion] hours each year complying with filing requirements.” [