ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the most promising ideas for reforming the federal tax system and explores why reform is so hard to accomplish. Ideas on tax reform abound, but few have any strong likelihood of becoming law in the immediate future. The deck is stacked against tax reform. In contrast to making the existing federal income tax more convenient, a number of stakeholders have advanced proposals for game-changing tax systems. Flat-tax proposals invariably recommend eliminating the current system of graduated income tax rates on individuals and corporations in favor of a single, flat tax rate. Flat-tax advocates argue that the reform has many redeeming qualities. Simplicity is chief among them, along with the economic and political benefits of eliminating scores of distortive, inefficient tax preferences and all of the lobbying they attract.
