I think it is so damn complicated in order to benefit those that have the wherewithal and connections to make said exemptions happen. At one point in my professional life i had a salary of over 110K / year. I made less money at the end of that than i did at my prior position where i made 70K. There is definitely a system and i don't know what it is all about or how it works.

I do believe that our politicians are very aware of how it works and are paid to keep it the way it is though.... but that just comes from a profound lack of trust in basically any politician (we should have been politicians)