When I was growing up there were a lot of tax accountants and then a
lot of people of my generation became accountants. Now a lot of accountants are retiring and there aren’t many younger accountants to replace them
Why do you think there are less accountants now than there have been in the past when they earn a good living, it is easy for them to be a self employed business owner, and it requires less formal education than most professionals
Perfect time to axe the income tax altogether. 
Some of the function has been automated.
It’s easier to prepare one’s personal income tax than it has been in recent memory. I am always amazed at the number of people with rather simple returns (w-2, 1099s and standard deductions) that use a preparer.
Going through some of my wife’s old stuff from before we got together, I found she’d been paying someone when she had the EZ form.
I’m sure she wasn’t alone. People have developed a fear of the IRS and making a mistake on their tax returns. I always have and think that if more folks did, and realized how screwed up it is, things might get better.
The IRS was once even helpful in answering people’s questions, but our illustrious Congress has turned the tax return into a clearinghouse for a variety of other benefits via a plethora of credits and deductions. Plus, Congress has responded to the tax preparing lobby by limiting, through legislation, what the IRS can do to help taxpayers file a return.
Well, I see I’ve reached the barn and have to get down from my high horse and settle him in for the night.
We had someone do our taxes for years until she retired. We now use TurboTax and it’s pretty simple, with the exception of a few things when my kid was in college.
That is what I was thinking
Can you blame them?
I’ve shared this before, but once I asked ChatGPT to tell me the word counts of the Bible and the entire comprehensive US tax code.
The former had like 780,000.
The latter had over four million.
It is a complete farce, and it is de facto a harassment program against lower income people who can’t afford (or understandably don’t want to afford) a tax professional.