NEW PLAN FIRST, THEN SCRAP THE TAX CODE

With the April 15 deadline bearing down on U.S. taxpayers, it's pretty easy to find folks who are more than a mite frayed over the intricacies of the income-tax code. Even the simplest of forms are difficult for many Americans who prepare their own tax returns. This is because most taxpayers fear the wrath of the IRS if they make even the simplest mistakes.

This is the season then, if you want to whip taxpayers into a frenzy, to suggest an overhaul of the tax code that every taxpayer knows and hates. And that is exactly what congressional Republicans did last week by reiterating their goal not of reworking the tax code, but of scrapping it entirely.

True, it's hard to find someone who thinks we ought to keep the tax code just as it is. But there are plenty of Americans who want to know what the Republicans or anyone else have in mind to replace it.

The GOP view so far is to emphasize the demise to the tax code and leave it to others -- sometime in the future -- to devise a better plan. Some Republicans are even saying that eliminating the tax code -- providing such action could survive a promised presidential veto -- would be just the incentive needed to come up with a better plan.

If you look at how Congress operates, you will quickly observe that serious deadlines don't always encourage logical or meaningful action. Take Social Security and Medicare, for example. Democrats and Republicans alike have known for several years now that both plans are headed for bankruptcy early in the next century, but no one has come up with a plan that will make either program financially sound.

Ticktock. Ticktock.

Then there is that awful feeling that settles into your gut when anyone in Washington offers these words of wisdom: Trust us.

In this case, Republicans are saying that scrapping the tax code will surely spur action on a replacement. They assume whatever follows the current tax code would be fairer, easier and simpler. But would it? Couldn't a new tax plan just as easily be worse than what we have now?

It is situations like this that demand a well-thought-out plan be offered before the old tax code is sent to the landfill.

Republicans have it right: The tax code needs to be scrapped. But it needs to be replaced with something that assures taxpayers they will be better off.

For now, all we have seen is fodder for campaign rhetoric. It sure would be nice to see some concrete ideas offered by either side of the political divide.

Perhaps it is too much to dream that some day politicians will realize that the ordinary folks who pay for the schemes elected officials and bureaucrats concoct aren't that gullible.

Ticktock. Ticktock.