Tea Party Likes Tax Simplification

Accounting Today reports that reforming the Internal Revenue Code to make it simpler and easier to understand has gained support about Tea Party activists and a number of key conservative Republican lawmakers. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has proposed the "End Tax Uncertainty Act" which would eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and make the "Bush" tax cuts of the past decade permanent. This goes beyond the AMT proposals of heavy-hitters Mike Pence (R-IN) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) but Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Georgia Republicans Saxby Chambliss and Bob Woodall would go even farther and eliminate the present income tax system, probably replacing it with a national sales tax. Democrats have some proposals of their own, most of which either provide tax savings for schoolteachers or raise taxes on high-income taxpayers.

Tax simplification is certainly an attractive proposition given the present state of the IRC and associated regulations and court results. That said, it is only slightly cynical to say "I'll believe it when I see it."