01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Bravo to Stephen Moore, of the Free Enterprise Fund (www.freeenterprisefund.org), for pushing an idea to let citizens either file their federal taxes within the current, impenetrable "system" or submit postcard-size returns and pay a 19-percent flat income tax, with no deductions beyond personal and dependents' exemptions. Businesses would pay 19 percent, with no deductions beyond "immediate amortization of capital purchases." (We have long challenged the idea that corporations should pay any income tax -- after all, corporations are made up of people. Why not just tax people directly? But that's a discussion for another day.)

The Tax Foundation (www.taxfoundation.org) estimates that tax compliance will cost $223.7 billion this year. Talk about dead weight! Perhaps worse is the excruciating waste of time: Consider, for instance, the foundation's estimate that the average taxpayer spent 28.5 hours last year doing his or her taxes, up from 21.2 hours in 1995. Think of how much good work could be done in that time, or how much pleasure had! Life is short . . .

So much for smaller government under the Republicans! The tax code is now more than 60,000 pages -- up from around 40,000 in 1995. That's in large part because President Clinton, President Bush and, increasingly, members of both parties in Congress -- but particularly the Republicans -- favor endlessly elaborated tax breaks in lieu of more direct and open taxing, spending and accounting. It's politically a lot easier, of course, to offer someone a tax break than to spend money on the person directly. Those pushing tax breaks can hide the uncomfortable fact that the taxes of those getting the breaks must be offset by those who don't.

Of course, many would complain that Stephen Moore's system would not be progressive, and would therefore be unfair to poorer people. To that we would reply that spending on social services for the less fortunate and other public outlays could offset the regressiveness, and avert the vast waste and drag of our current tax system. (Mr. Moore, however, would oppose much of what we would consider necessary public spending.)

After all, Western European countries' main source of income is a hefty value-added tax, which is "regressive." But the Europeans more than offset it by public spending that is "progressive" -- on education, health care, parks, public transportation, and so forth.

(Some of the tax dodges that come out of our rococco tax "code" are amusing. Consider the deductions for trophy game shot by rich hunters and given to "museums" as charity donations. Charles Grassley [R.-Iowa], chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, cites this as one example of how the tax code has been corrupted, and he has vowed to go after the dodges. Happy hunting, Senator!)

With all the byzantine proposals to help the economy, it never ceases to amaze us that tax simplification gets so little attention. But perhaps the country will soon reach the breaking point. How long will Americans continue to torture themselves with the Western world's worst tax system?