Added Bramble: "There's some momentum to simplify and move to a flat system. I don't know whether (the church's) statement alone will be sufficient to derail us. As the chair of the task force we welcome that kind of input."

"I think we'll still discuss a (true) flat-rate tax" as tax reform moves forward, said Curtis. But more than 80 percent of legislators are members of the LDS Church and the church rarely losses a political battle when it takes a public stand.

The church "hasn't lost one in recent history," noted Curtis. Although he did recall that church leaders opposed the repeal of Prohibition in the 1930s, yet the Utah Legislature voted to repeal the U.S. constitutional amendment banning liquor. (Utah's vote, in fact, was the critical 36th one that achieved the three-fourths majority necessary to make the repeal effective.)

A modified flat-rate tax could still include some aspects that Curtis and other legislators like. "You'll remember that the Jones/Mascaro bill" — named after sponsoring Reps. Pat Jones, D-Cottonwood Heights, and Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan — "goes after large families (with a number of dependent children deductions) who pay little toward their children's education, and a flat-rate tax can get at that (issue), too," Curtis said.

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