In 2011, the government collected $2.3 trillion in revenue -- of which $1.1 trillion comes from the individual income tax and $181 billion from corporations.
Baucus, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, likened the current tax code to Hydra, the mythical beast with many heads who grows back two every time one is chopped off.
Case in point: In 1986, the last time Congress overhauled the tax code, there were 14 "temporary" tax breaks on the books. Today there are 132, many of which have been automatically extended time and again.
And complexity has grown throughout the tax code. Baucus noted that since 1986, there have been 15,000 changes made to the tax code.
No one realistically expects Congress to adequately address tax reform before the end of the year.