Is real tax reform possible?

The Max & Dave Traveling Tax Reform Tour has so far made stops in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Philadelphia.

The road show's top act, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), insist that there's a good chance they'll be able to shepherd through some sort of tax reform before both relinquish leadership of their Congressional panels.

We shall see.

All talk, little action: Americans love to complain about taxes, both how much we pay and how our Senators and Representatives spend our money.

But we also fight changes to the tax code when it means we will personally lose a tax break.

And lobbyists who get paid humongous retainers to argue for tax benefits for special industry and corporate interests are even worse.

According to data cited in the infographic below, compiled for Master of Accounting Degrees, despite our complaining, tax reform tends to be at the bottom of Americans' national to-do list.

Image compliments of Master of Accounting Degrees

So what about you? Do you believe we U.S. taxpayers will ever accept that we might personally need to surrender a favorite tax break in order to make the tax system simpler for everyone?

Do you see Baucus and Camp getting enough public support to justify their tax reform efforts?

Do you think we'll see any type of tax rewrite this year? If not, do you think it's possible for Congress to tweak tax laws in an election year?

Or will 2014 just be 10 long months of politicians using taxes as a campaign cudgel leading up to the November mid-term votes?

You also might find these items of interest:

• Some Senators shun secrecy, share tax reform suggestions
• The ever-growing tax code, or why we continue to talk about tax reform
• Congress' continuing, continual love of special tax breaks undercuts tax reform