My wife is a tax professional but trade, although not in the personal sphere of expertise, I can tell you that the tax companies in America are definitely some of the ones that fight this notion the hardest. They are paid to do all kinds of crazy shit to hide money and reduce the burden. Then you combine the offshore stuff and it gets better. We are considering starting our own company so we can take tax benefits. Shit even perhaps registering something in Ireland or something. Screw taxes! Lol
I wonder if the system was simple, transparent and "provably fair" - would people be so upset? Probably not, because they will be able to affect the system itself - the complexity and lack of opacity is the issue.