(MONEY Magazine) – "THIS MUCH IS CLEAR: SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE." WITH THOSE words, I attempted to express your profound displeasure with our convoluted income tax code while testifying on your behalf before the House Ways and Means Committee in March.

Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas), chairman of that tax-writing group, had asked MONEY to be the lead witness in a series of hearings he will hold over the next seven months to build momentum to--as he puts it--"rip the income tax out by the roots and throw it overboard."

My message was direct: Our income tax law, as set out in 2,600 pages of often loopy, contradictory legalese, has become so complex that it is no longer fair. "Typical taxpayers have no way of knowing how much tax they actually owe," I testified, "nor what they need to pay to get competent tax advice."

We reached that unfortunate conclusion after conducting a series of annual tax tests, beginning in 1988, that asked as many as 50 tax preparers from all corners of the profession to calculate how much a hypothetical family would owe. Sure enough, every year each pro computed a completely different amount of tax for the family. And the accountants' tax bills varied widely--from close to a 50% spread between $7,200 and $12,000 the first year to nearly 1,000%, between $6,800 and $73,200, in 1991.

Moreover, the fees the tax preparers would have charged ranged from a low of $187 (by a surprisingly accurate storefront preparer in 1988) to a high of $4,500 (by a misguided San Francisco C.P.A. in 1992). Nor was there much correlation between the tax preparers' fees and the accuracy of their work. One year, among the seven who came within about $1,000 of hitting our tax target, two charged around $1,000, but the other five asked for double or triple as much.

Obviously, our obtuse tax code is baffling even veteran tax pros. As a result, a family's guess about how much they owe the government may be just as good as their accountant's.

Nearly everyone agrees with that conclusion. In a national poll we conducted in January, the vast majority of the public--84%--said we need major tax reform. The vexing question is this: If we discard the income tax system, which delivers around 47% of the federal budget, what will we put in its place?

There is little agreement among Americans on a solution:

--Millionaire publisher Steve Forbes wants a flat tax. It's easy to see why: It would save his family around $1.4 billion in estate taxes alone (see Money Newsline in the April issue). But our poll shows that only 33% of the public favor it, partly because they fear that its proposed elimination of the mortgage interest write-off would actually boost middle-class homeowners' tax bills while decreasing house values by around 20%.

--Chairman Archer is pushing a national sales tax, but only 16% of our respondents endorse that approach. The major drawback they see involves fairness: They grasp that a sales tax would probably hit poor people, who spend nearly 100% of what they make, far harder than the rich, who shell out around only 80% of their income. And above all, the public wants a fairer tax system. For example, 59% say fairness should be our top tax priority, and 64% add that the rich should pay more taxes than others. Obviously, Archer will get nowhere unless he convinces the public that his sales tax will somehow be fair to all.

--And retiring Rep. Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.), as well as others, are proposing variations on the value-added taxes on goods and services prevalent in Europe. But no one has yet generated much enthusiasm here for that approach.

I concluded my testimony this way: "Each April, Americans should not be faced with the question: How much do I owe Uncle Sam? Is it $1,000? Or $5,000? Or some other amount an IRS auditor will end up dictating?"

Clearly, that's not the way our tax laws should work. But what is the solution? If you have ideas--about how to reform the income tax or what to put in its place--send them to me by mail (MONEY Tax Test, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020) or fax (212-522-8509). We will forward your ideas to Congress.

Allow me to add that I was honored to represent you.

FRANK LALLI, Managing Editor