Revisiting tax reform--AICPA updates study on tax alternatives.

The AICPA is striving to provide policymakers and interested individuals with a clear understanding of the issues and alternatives involved in federal tax reform, and to foster informed discussion by providing unbiased information and analysis by updating its 1995 study, Flat Taxes and Consumption Taxes: A Guide to the Debate.

A preliminary electronic version of Understanding Tax Reform: A Guide to 21st Centur3' Alternatives has been submitted to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform and has been posted to www.aicpa.org/taxreform. The final report also will evaluate the Panel's recommendations--due to President Bush by July 31.

Although no position is taken on the best solution for reforming the federal income tax system, the report offers methods for analyzing reform proposals. It also discusses the differences between income and consumption taxation and examines the five major consumption tax alternatives [retail sales tax, credit-invoice value-added tax (VAT), subtraction method VAT, "the flat tax" (a single-rate consumption tax), and personal consumption tax]. In addition, the report considers hybrid proposals that would include features of both an income tax and a consumption tax and outlines transition issues and other concerns for implementing any reform.