Honest Mistakes and Reforming the Tax Code

The New York Times is running an article where five prominent tax experts discuss whether or not Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner are tax cheats.

Most of the commentary is focused on the complexity of the tax code, and how everyone makes mistakes. But one comment did pique my interest immensely. David Cay Johnston opined, "The best that can come from these disclosures of cheating is a start on devising a new tax system that suits this economy." That strikes me as an honestly good solution to the problem. If we fix the system so that our tax laws are clear and understandable, then it will be far easy for people to comply with them.

What do you think? Is this just politics as usual, or are there things we can do to fix the tax code so that it's fairer and simpler for everyone?