Taxes are needed to run a government. They need to pay for their services like police, market regulation, infrastructure, and so on. The main reason taxes feel so painful is because the government is inefficient. It is like paying for a service from a bad company, that is also a monopoly. You don't get your money word and you must pay every time.
The tax code is indeed very complex and thus full of loopholes, only accessible to the ones with resources to navigate the complexity. A simpler tax code makes it fair. I believe the government should only tax on the things they can actively regulate an influence.
VAT should be the only tax that exists, because the government regulates the market. They ensure that sellers are honest and provide not lethal goods and services and provide a market for them to transform goods add them value and sell them further back into the market. VAT is a fix rate, and that is good enough as it taxes on the Volume you interact with the market. If you interact with the market a lot your tax bill will be higher, but you are indeed benefiting the most with the market.
On the other extreme Income tax is the most unfair, it is increased on your income. Which indeed discourages people to sharpen their skill, productivity and earn more. Which then precisely drives people to stagnate as a worker and make them susceptible to unemployment. Income tax should disappear and be turned into VAT, in the end you have studied, sharpened your skills and transform those into some value for your employer. It would be fair, it would stay a fix rate, giving you a predictable outlook of your takes and allow you to dare to earn more instead of being hit by a tax bracket.
Having only VAT would make taxes so much easier, for everyone people and companies and it would be fair. It would also encourage a healthy marketplace, as people would only spend into the market when they find something they like.
Being taxed on you income as a person or profits as a company it just mad as it discourages you from earning. Yes, companies have the benefit to be taxed on profits after expenses, and many try to have zero profits. People don't have that option, we get taxed on income. If you are taxed on VAT, profits would be better allocated for your future expenses when you find a good buy/investment and it incentivizes the market to offer you something you would trade your money for.
I think there should be full transparency on government spending, down to the individual dollar. If there is "black money" for special operations, it can be labelled as such, but the in and out should always equal zero. Blockchain it all.
Yes, this is what I think the "endgame" of tax should be, but it isn't going to happen unless there is the pressure to do so.
I think it would encourage spending also, rather than just investing for more gain at the higher end. It would create a different dynamic for wealth creation and expenditure.
Also, I don't get to choose which country I pay my tax in, I have to pay it where I earn it. Companies can earn locally, but choose to pay internationally somewhere else, like Ireland. I think in Australia, Google earned something like 8 billion locally, but paid less than a percent of it in tax.