Tax Reform

It would be an unconscionable blunder to try to replace the existing income tax system with a different system such as a flat tax overnight. A change in such an all-pervading institution should be made gradually, to avoid the risk of a calamitous dislocation in the economy.

Experience in Europe has shown that the most easily and universally collected tax is a transaction tax. To get there, a small such tax would be instituted and increased gradually over several years. At the same time personal exemptions would be increased over the years. The eventual goal would be to remove perhaps 80% of taxpayers from the tax rolls. Only the wealthy would continue to pay an income tax; the poor would also file tax returns to benefit from a negative income tax.

ALEXANDER M. MOOD

Irvine