The right-wing noise machine is going on about we have to simplify the job of doing taxes. and the way they propose is the reduce the number of brackets.
I call bullshit.
The directions on filling out your long-form tax return runs more than 100 pages. Many special exemptions require other forms, which have other booklets of directions.
The number of brackets influences the shape of only two of those pages -- and one of those two is merely informative; you don't use it to fill out your form.
If brackets are changed, it will change the numbers in the tables you use to look up your tax. (Suggested reduction in brackets will significantly reduce the amount owed by the highest-income families.) It won't change the task of looking that numbeer up in the slightest.
What makes filling out the form so complicated is:
1) The special treatment of various types of income, almost always investment income
2) The variety of deductions you, but mostly those far richer guys than you, can take.
If the number of brackets is reduced, the number of pages will be unchanged. I'm working on a proposal to replace the top bracket with a series of brackets with sreeply progressive marginal rates. That would add another two pages.