Interesting story in today’s New York Times:  Candidates’ Tax Plans Are a Mystery, by Floyd Norris:

Opportunities for real tax reform are rare. But when they do come along, something good can happen only if political leaders are prepared with a plan they can sell to a populace that knows the shortcomings of the present system but is suspicious of changes that may cost them money. Otherwise, tax legislation ends up parceling out breaks — and sometimes punishments — based on some combination of quiet lobbying and loud grandstanding. The inevitable result is a more complicated, less logical system.

We are nearing a time of opportunity. George W. Bush will bequeath to his successor a tax system that everyone agrees must be changed by the end of 2010. It should be changed at least a year before that. But if any of the presidential candidates are thinking seriously about the opportunities that will bring, they have kept the information to themselves. And that is a pity. At the two presidential debates this week, there was almost no discussion of taxes.