The critical element in all this activity is beyond tax policy minutia. Huntsman was a marvelous gubernatorial candidate who frequently made bold statements, undertook risks and offered substantive recommendations — especially for a Republican. As governor, Huntsman has been overly cautious and has assumed few controversial undertakings (the Legacy settlement is a noteworthy exception). The tax scheme provides Huntsman an opportunity to take a position and fight for it in the legislative and public arena. This will be no easy task as there are a number of powerful organizations that have legitimate concerns with his plan. But it is vital that Utahns are confident the person to whom they have entrusted their schools, roads and job creation will not shrink from a conflict.

• State Rep. LaVar Christensen will be soon announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District. Christensen has suffered many jokes at his expense because of his renowned verbosity and conservative views. Although we disagree on many items, Christensen and I are longtime friends (politics does make strange bedfellows) and know him to be personable, well-read, substantive and hard-working. He will add an interesting element to the election.

Webb: The tax reform process in Utah has been under way for a couple of years now with an incredible amount of hard work by dedicated citizen experts, academics, elected officials, appointed officials and staff. The Legislature's Tax Reform Task Force, chaired by Sen. Curt Bramble and Rep. Wayne Harper, will have held at least 16 lengthy meetings, innumerable subcommittee meetings, and will hold seven public hearings all around the state before it finishes its work.

That's to say nothing of the immense effort and thousands of hours of work put in by the Olene Walker tax group, plus all of the staff work and an additional big effort by the Huntsman administration.

All in all, I believe this has been one of the most intense, detailed and comprehensive examinations of a particular area of public policy in Utah history. So, with all of that study and effort, will anything substantive come of it?

I believe the answer is yes, but it may not be revolutionary. It will all come to a head in the 2006 legislative session, and plenty of work, debate and discussion will yet occur before final passage.

What will emerge won't necessarily be the Huntsman plan, or the Jones-Mascaro plan, or the Olene Walker plan or the Bramble-Harper plan. It will be the best and most workable elements from all of those plans.

The governor's office and legislative leaders are in fairly close agreement that the state income tax rate can be reduced to 5 percent and still provide breaks for charitable contributions, mortgage interest and unlimited dependents. A reduction from 7 percent to 5 percent will be a victory for all concerned, giving Utah one of the lowest income tax rates in the region.

Also likely to emerge is an earned income credit for low-income people to offset the sales tax on food, RDA and sales tax distribution reform, elimination of sales tax on business inputs, and a number of tweaks in the property tax.