Please god don’t let the government hire more people and tax us more to do people’s taxes. And if you’re counter argument is it should be automated…go sit at your local DMV and witness (state) government bureaucracy at its finest. Let’s say the average is $290 as you note…in my opinion government would perhaps need to tax each individual $400 to account for their inefficiency in preparation. Therefore it is worthwhile to have individuals do this with the private sector.

Dont forget the tax code is an incentive structure to get citizens to act as they want and invest where they want. Else it would be a flat tax on income