The Theory and Practice of Tax Reform
Simple, Fair, and Pro-Growth: Proposals to Fix America's Tax System. By The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. 2005. Pp. xv, 272. Available at http://www.taxreformpanel.gov/final-report/.
On January 7, 2005, President Bush—flush with recent electoral victory—issued an Executive Order creating the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. The Order instructed the bipartisan Panel to recommend one or more plans for major reform of the federal income tax. The president did not, however, permit the Panel to begin its work on a blank slate. Instead, the Order required (among other things) that the Panel’s proposals be revenue-neutral, simpler than current law, “appropriately progressive,” and supportive of homeownership and charity. Although the Order contemplated that the Panel might offer more than one tax reform plan, it required that at least one option “use the Federal income tax as the base for its recommended reforms.”