@codinghorror We can and have taxed the wealthy before. It was highly successful. We do not do so today, but have several proposals (improved capital gains tax, for example) that address this. We also have states beginning to implement additional taxes on those with high income. (See Washington State's "Millionair Tax")
The challenge is that it's a political fight to get these established - more so since Citizens United.
Also... the programs being crap is not because they need to be complex. If it were, we would not be having a social security crisis. They are crap because we give poor people crap.
If you have ever sampled procucts across the spectrum, you might notice how anything directed at poor people is full of advertisements, scams and upselling. This is considered lucrative, even though we are selling services to individuals who cannot afford the bells and whistles.
We specifically design benches to be uncomfortable. There was even a toilet designed to be uncomfortable.
But this is about government services, not just what we find acceptable.
So to bring us back, I need to call out how much scruteny poor people are under to prove their poorness is not a moral failing instead of the fact they are paid less than enough to meet the poverty line - a line chosen to describe not "Who has enough", but instead "Who is literally starving".
And why? Because of the "Welfare Queen Myth".
So no. I do not trust us with any means testing. I will not until we fix existing means testing.