> with income taxes you need a convoluted code to address the many types of income possible in a modern society.
Do you? You could tax all income the same way, but governments seem to like having the ability to use the tax code to incentivize certain ways of making money over others.
You're hand waving away what the same way means. What if I make 500k once every five years? Should I pay taxes like I make 500k every year once, and nothing the other 4 years? Should I be able to amortize that across 5 years?
What if I bought a house and flipped it as a business venture? What costs count toward the business and what doesn't? You have to define all of that before you know what you've earned.
Income is complicated, whereas a single transaction is very simple.
Do you? You could tax all income the same way, but governments seem to like having the ability to use the tax code to incentivize certain ways of making money over others.