If, like me, you are annoyed about all the hours (and money) you just spent filling out your taxes, then you should be extra pissed off about the demise of the Democrats’ Build Back Better bill.

The legislation would have started the process of making it easier for millions of Americans to do their taxes, and save the country billions of dollars. Today’s Republican lawmakers oppose the idea — even though it was boosted by former president Ronald Reagan and has now been implemented in other countries around the world.

At issue is the cat-and-mouse game millions of us have to play every year — the one where we spend hour after maddening hour trying to figure out what we owe in taxes, and then hope our calculation matches what the Internal Revenue Service already knows is due. The process is one of the many ways America overburdens its residents in ways other countries don’t. This annual ritual of red tape is such a defining feature of the American experience, it was a storyline on the original version of The Wonder Years. It remains such a tedious tax on our free time that it’s become a joke — literally.