"it is inconceivable that Congress would inject such complexity into a basic deduction that is meant to benefit more taxpayers" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

You can't write an Excel formula (at least, I can't) that says "if standard is greater than itemized, reduce AGI by $300," because when you reduce AGI, you potentially increase the Schedule A medical deduction, and that changes the amount of itemized. Maybe you could do one of those optimizer iterative calculations, but that really bogs down the Excel, and I think it requires that you click a button to actually run it each time.

"There may be limited circumstances where it would be more beneficial to claim I/D even if it results in a higher taxable income (and in all likelihood, the difference should just be marginal where such choices even exist) but that should be very rare, if at all."

I see you don't practice in a state that requires you to use the tiny state standard deduction if you use the enormous federal standard deduction. My Excel has a whole side calculation that automatically calculates the state itemized (which is not the same as the federal itemized, because OF COURSE IT ISN'T) to improve my odds of eyeballing whether it's worth actually comparing total tax both ways.