I remember back in July and August when Dennis Hastert began talking about the idea of abolishing the IRS. President Bush kind of latched onto the idea, and it became a hot political item for a couple of weeks around the time of the Democratic National Convention. Kerry and his people seemed shocked that the Republicans would even suggest such an idea, especially since it would never get done. It was pure political posturing in their minds.

Well, guess what item will be high on the agenda of this administration’s agenda during the second term?

It’s uncertain what will emerge, but tax experts say there are many options for simplification, including the creation of a flat income tax or a value-added tax on production or simply tweaking the existing code.

With Republicans increasing their majorities in the House and Senate, some changes are all but certain, said Bill Raabe, tax professor at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

“If it’s ever going to happen, now’s the time,” he said.

Supporters of a national sales tax are buoyed by the president’s remarks at an August campaign stop in Florida, when he called it “the kind of interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously.”

There are a couple bills floating around now that support a 23 percent national sales tax, which is one way of addressing the issue. I think a flat tax might also be worth exploring.

If a national sales tax is how this shakes out, there need to be a couple of exemptions. Non-prepared food, clothes, medicine, and services should all be exempt from the sales tax. There also should probably be some kind of rebate program for low-income workers to ease their burden even more.

I think this kind of program does a number of things. First, it increases take home pay for workers, meaning that your paycheck is worth a whole lot more since Uncle Sam isn’t dipping into it before you even get to the bank. Second, it does away with the antiquated and complicated tax system that has been abused by so many for so long. The average person can’t sit down his or her taxes without professional help. Let’s put the CPAs out of business.

Who knows if we’ll ever see the end of the IRS, but the prospect certainly seems appealing and realistic for the first time.