Totally agree. Back in the late 90s Vermont spent a fortune designing a web system to file state taxes. It sucked.
Fortunately, numerous private companies built the tax software we are now accustomed to using. The Vermont system quietly went away after a year or two, along with the millions it cost to build.
Its almost like all those states were funneling money to supporters under the guise of incompetence (likely, the incompetence was real too)