Maybe we feel this way out of habit. The Tax Foundation keeps records of its hypothetical Tax Freedom Day going back to 1900. After 1943, the date has remained fairly constant, ranging from early April to the temporary extreme of early May at the end of the last decade. We hit it on April 17 also back in 1968. After awhile, maybe we don't even miss money we forget we've earned. Maybe we view the tax bill the way we do a regular dental exam. Or maybe the amount we pay seems about right, although we'd be hard-pressed to articulate why.

But there does seem to be one nearly universal sentiment — taxes in this country are far too complicated. Ten years ago, a real momentum seemed to be building toward simplification. Republicans seemed to be pushing in that direction, until they gained control of Congress. Then the momentum refocused as a universal hatred of the IRS. Villains make for easier politics, after all. Congress passed the IRS Reform Act, patted itself on the back and went back to the business of complicating things.

Meanwhile, by some estimates federal tax rules have increased by nearly 20,000 pages since 1995. Today, nearly two-thirds of Americans have to hire someone to prepare their returns.

President Bush has made tax reform a priority, along with about a dozen other things. There is talk of a flat rate or a national sales tax or some other radical change.

I won't hold my breath. Like so much else in an entrepreneurial society, today's tax system has become an industry. Too many parts of the economy, from tax preparers to home builders and dozens of interests in between, have a stake in it.

The opposite of freedom is, of course, slavery. That's one way of looking at how we've spent 2005 up until today. But in a place that values government by the people, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Judging by the lack of outrage, happy gas is in the air on this planet, too.

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Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret Morning News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com