Interestingly, I'm not sensing that LDS Church opposition to a flat tax is scaring off legislative support. Clearly, if the church mounts a real grass-roots lobbying effort, the pure flat tax is dead. But if the church simply states its position and leaves it at that, the concept may remain viable.

Many variations to the pure flat tax could be acceptable, including allowing charitable contribution and mortgage interest deductions. Low-income families could be given breaks. It would still be an improvement.

I'm more interested in the broadening of the sales tax base than the particulars of a flat tax. I would also like to see transportation funding put on a solid foundation so we're not continually losing ground. Taxes dedicated to transportation have declined dramatically in purchasing power, and tax reform won't be meaningful if we don't resolve that problem.

No one should underestimate how hard real tax reform will be. Interest groups will attack it from a hundred different directions. Lawmakers will have to be at their most statesmanlike to make it happen.

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Republican LaVarr Webb was policy deputy to Gov. Mike Leavitt and Deseret News managing editor. He now is a political consultant and lobbyist. E-mail: lwebb@exoro.com. Democrat Frank Pignanelli is a Salt Lake attorney, lobbyist and political adviser. A former candidate for Salt Lake mayor, Pignanelli served 10 years in the Utah House of Representatives, six years as House minority leader. Pignanelli's spouse, D'Arcy Dixon Pignanelli, is executive director of the state Department of Administrative Services in the Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. administration. E-mail: frankp@xmission.com.