They mean its kept overly and unnecessarily complex, and difficult to understand on purpose. The reason being because the tax preperation industry lobbies to keep ot thst way because their entire industry is based on it being too complicated.

Byzantine became an adjective to describe a system that is overly complicated and difficult for a lay person to understand the inner workings of. The basis for the word was the bureaucracy of the Byzantine Empire - which was regarded as overly complex and impossible for people outside of it to actually understand. It was probably easier than the US tax code though

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Fun fact! The government of the Byzantine Empire was fairly straightforward. Notably, their tax system was a simple flat tax, with additional taxes levied on landowners based on the value of their holdings.

"Byzantine" became synonymous with excessive complexity because—big surprise incoming—some Anglos just made shit up. Eighteenth century RETVRN bros wanted to trash everything that came after the Roman Empire, and here's where we are today. Neat!

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Thanks! 18th century historians making shit the fuck up is not too surprising, but i hadn't heard about this falsehood yet.

18th century RETVRN bros wanted to trash everything that came after the Roman Empire.

Yeah everything had to fit the Gibbons-esque take about falling into "decadence" and becoming "soft" and "Eastern" shudder

It sucks how pervasive that shit is. It sucks that it was still worming around in my head! Lol

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Crap, I have 18th century brainworms to exorcise?

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For these, you might need to undergo a procedure that involves drilling a hole in your head.

[–] BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago

Woo, I always wanted to join the Trepa Nation.