Let's dream any way. Suppose for once that Congress were sincere, that it really wanted to fix the tax system. What should it do?

This part is easy -- Congress ought to scrap the tax code in its entirety. First, the tax code is ridiculously complex, so much so that even some CPAs have to seek professional help. (The code exceeds 50,000 pages!)

Second, it has spawned a cottage industry that adds no value to society. Tax attorneys and tax accountants may benefit their clients, but the costs are dead-weight losses to society and so a tremendous waste of resources.

Third, the tax code is unfair. It benefits those who can legally bribe representatives and senators with sufficiently high campaign contributions, but yokes the rest of us. Despite the alternative minimum tax and other vehicles supposedly created to make the rich pay their fair share of the tax encumbrance, they don't. The rich just utilize schemes that the legislature invents to placate them. In short, the tax code is biased in favor of the wealthy.

Probably the single best tax system is a national sales tax, as currently proposed in the Fair Tax Bill (HR25 and S25). (One can obtain greater information at http://www.fairtax.org.) The bill would eliminate the income tax system and payroll taxes and replace them with a national sales tax.

The advantages are numerous. It would be simple to understand, not requiring the parsing of enigmatic grammars or the offering of sacrifices by a priest to the IRS god. It would be fair; the only way to avoid taxes is to buy less. And less consumption would lead to greater savings, something Americans desperately need to do. Tax expenditures become visible, so that citizens become aware of how much taxes they pay. A national sales tax benefits exports, thereby boosting employment levels and reducing the trade deficit. Moreover, you can eliminate the IRS and its thousands of pesky agents and use the money in a more constructive manner.

Business enterprises would no longer have incentives to move their headquarters to Bermuda to avoid corporate taxes, as Tyco did in 1997. Nor would they have incentives to manufacture off-shore tax havens, as many of the large business entities have done. (Citizen Works declares that the following companies each have over 100 off-shore tax havens: El Paso, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Aon, Marsh & McLennan, and Halliburton.) Even corporate America would gain by eliminating all tax consultants and all tax avoidance contrivances.

What are the disadvantages? Good question; I cannot think of any. I'll let the shills for the status quo defend the system by attacking this proposal. What else can they do?

Well, enough of dreaming. Anybody know some good tax scam I can use?

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J. EDWARD KETZ is accounting professor at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ketz's teaching and research interests focus on financial accounting, accounting information systems, and accounting ethics. He is the author of Hidden Financial Risk, which explores the causes of recent accounting scandals.