News In Brief

US Treasury seeking ideas on fairer, easier tax setup

The Treasury Department, declaring the federal income tax system deeply flawed and extraordinarily complex, opened a series of nationwide meetings Wednesday to get an election-year earful from the public on the need for a fairer, simpler, and more efficient tax method.

''We have no preconceived ideas about tax reform, except that it should further the goals of fairness, simplicity, and neutrality,'' the department's No. 2 official, Deputy Secretary R. T. McNamar, said in opening the first hearing in Washington.