Federal tax code is not only confusing—it’s also expensive. At least according to a new report released last Friday by a White House advisory board whose members recommended simpler tax laws. The report found a complex tangle of federal tax requirements that cost taxpayers 7.6 billion hours and about $140 billion. Moreover, since the code’s last overhaul in 1986, Congress has altered the law more than 15,000 times. As another symptom and symbol of the complexity, instruction booklets for the standard Form 1040 expanded from 14 pages to 44 pages last year. One of the advisory board’s leaders Martin Feldstein—a Harvard economist and former Reagan administration economic advisor—told The Washington Post: “What the report makes clear is the enormous complexity of the tax law… for an ordinary family trying to figure out and make sure they are complying with the laws and taking advantage of benefits offered.”

Read the full story on the report at The Washington Post.