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A tax form the size of a postcard? That would be one result of Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka's flat tax proposal. This idea, first suggested by the authors in 1982, is now the subject of widespread discussion in both popular and academic circles. In this volume, the authors argue that a flat tax of 19 percent would raise the same revenue as the present income tax, while fundamentally redesigning our system of taxation to encourage savings and investment. Dick Armey urges passage of legislation to institute a flat tax, which, he believes, would simplify taxpayers' lives and encourage economic growth.

Robert Eisener disagrees with the Hall-Rabushka flat tax, challenging claims for increased fairness and efficiency. He offers, instead, an alternative flat tax proposal of his own. According to Herbert Stein, the present federal income tax is full of "anomalies, distortions, and complexity," allowing for "plenty of room for tax reform," but not necessarily of the flat tax variety.

Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabuska are senior fellows at the Hoover Institution. Dick Armey is majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Robert Eisner is the William R. Kenan Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University. Herbert Stein is a senior fellow at AEI.