Robert D. Plattner (McNamee, Lochner, Titus & Williams, Albany, NY) has published Who Speaks for the Tax Code?  Institutionalizing Tax Reform, 38 State Tax Notes 1023 (Dec. 19, 2005), also available on the Tax Analysts web site as Doc 2005-23989, 2005 STT 242-22.  Here is the Introduction:

2006 will mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the New York State Legislative Commission on the Modernization and Simplification of Tax Administration and the Tax Laws. Despite the burden of that unwieldy name, the commission, often referred to as the Legislative Tax Study Commission, produced an impressive body of work during the 1980s. That work, in turn, served as the foundation for groundbreaking tax reform legislation enacted in 1986 and 1987 that significantly reshaped the state’s personal income tax and corporate franchise tax and completely revamped the tax appeals process. This article will provide a short history of the commission and the reform that followed, and attempt to identify the reasons for the commission’s success. It will then discuss, drawing on the lessons to be learned from that history, the potential benefits of a permanent body within state government to study and recommend changes in the tax code and to serve as an advocate for the integrity of the tax code.