EFFORT TO REPLACE TAX CODE BUILDS STEAM

Last week, in Independence, Mo., there began a nationwide campaign to scrap the current federal tax code and replace it with a simpler, fairer tax system.

The drive, which began in the town so strongly associated with President Harry Truman, is being spearheaded by the National Federation of Independent Business and aims to collect a million signatures on petitions. Organizers say the drive will culminate June 17, 1998, when the petitions will be presented to Congress.

More power to them. The current federal tax code is a 10,000-page abomination, a real threat to liberty and a gigantic boulder in the path of greater prosperity for all Americans.

These and other truths were underscored by last week's hearings on the Internal Revenue Service conducted by the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee. Those hearings riveted the attention of a nation whose taxpayers, for the most part, haven't had at least one ugly run-in with the lords and masters of the IRS.

The fact that IRS minions can confront the hapless small business person as judge, jury and executioner truly resonates with Americans. This is an affront to our sense of fundamental fair play and decency, especially when you consider the fact that the taxpayer is forced to prove himself innocent to the tax collectors whose salary he or she pays.

NFIB leaders kicked off the campaign with a host of Missouri lawmakers who have signed on for the duration. These include Sens. Kit Bond and John Ashcroft, Reps. Roy Blunt, Jim Talent, Kenny Hulshof and Southeast Missouri's own Jo Ann Emerson.

The significance of their participation can hardly be overestimated, especially since Hulshof sits on the influential, tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Bond and Talent chair the small business committees of their respective chambers. As a spur to reform, Blunt is co-sponsor of a bill that would sunset the current tax code effective on Dec. 31, 2000.

The NFIB isn't currently proposing a specific plan for replacement of the current tax code, but rather is announcing seven guiding principles that must steer reform efforts:

Lower taxes to create jobs and opportunities.

Fostering work by encouraging work and savings.

Fairness for all taxpayers.

Simplicity so all taxpayers can understand.

Neutrality on social and political issues, with people -- not government -- making choices.

Visibility so people know the true cost of government.

Stability so people can plan for the future.

These are eminently sound guideposts.

One alternative to the current abomination is a flat tax on incomes, with two simple rates and almost no deductions except for a greatly increased dependent deduction. Another proposal is for a national tax on consumption, or national sales tax. Either alternative is superior to the current system and has much to commend it.

It was a great week, full of hopeful portents for the future in this vital effort. If enough Americans get behind the NFIB petition campaign, and these lawmakers stay with it, it could lead us to a point where the 21st century is ushered in with a new birth of freedom in America. Go to it, one and all.