Tax code reform aimed at simplification would just get rid of that, and incentivize the behavior of your example via e.g. DoE grants to manufacturers to allow lower prices on more energy efficient units. The problem is that everybody has their own pet deductions (and a good number of them have armies of lobbyists backing them up), so a real attempt to clean the slate would require a degree of political cohesion that congress can only dream of.
They don't know that. The trick is to send you a draft proposal based on what they do know, and allow you to amend it based on information that they do not. If you aren't eligible for any deductions nor have any other taxable source of income of which the IRS was not aware, you just accept their proposal. That's how it works in most developed countries.
It kind of works that way here. You get a W2 from your employer which has every bit of info you need. You put that into a form and submit to the government. The end.
They don't, but the important thing is that the vast majority of people don't itemize, especially with the high standard deduction there is now. Required filing is just pointless for them.
Of course the option to file will remain, no one is arguing against that.
You file a form or enter data into some fields in a web interface that updates their records?
The vast majority of people are better off with the standard deduction. For everyone else, they can file to their heart's content.
That's a case of ammending what the gov already figures out automatically.