"Our current tax system has two major flaws: It's too complicated and it doesn't seem fair.

Several members of Congress want to shift from an income tax to a consumption tax, such as a sales tax. This would end the complicated mess that concludes on April 15 every year.

But there are other ways we could simplify the tax code -- and this seems an essential reform, because we cannot sustain a tax that most of us don't understand. How can we? The thousands of pages of rules and regulations are incomprehensible.

The second problem is complicated by that very complexity. How fair is our tax code?"

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Saving a good way to start new tax year (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/17)

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