The latest idea floated in the Utah House, to allow taxpayers to choose between the existing income tax structure and a proposed flat-rate approach, clearly abandons the idea that tax reform should make things simpler, either for the taxpayers or for state budget-writers.

The history of the debate might be more accurately described as tax deform, as each successive proposal has slid further down the evolutionary scale.

Way back when, the unjustly ignored Jones-Mascaro tax plan would have made the state's income tax system less burdensome on the working class and, in its original form, raised some much-needed extra money for public education. Then the briefly noted package suggested by former Gov. Olene Walker, despite many controversial aspects, hewed to the reformist principle of lowering the rate while broadening the base.

In sad contrast, the plans endorsed by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. have been simplistic trickle-down economics, bluntly designed to lure more rich folks to the state with a promise of a flatish income tax rate somewhere south of 5 percent. That would cut income tax revenues - the primary source of education funding - by a good $70 million the first year and bet the ranch on the advent of a Utah-only business boom down the line.

That got through a reluctant Senate recently, but died in the House when too many members worried about all the tax breaks that would be lost in a flatter-tax regime. The new idea is to let taxpayers choose whether they want to pay based on the old system - a top rate of 7 percent and lots of deductions - or a flat, no-deductions 4.8 percent.

Simplified? Only if figuring your taxes two ways every year to see which one is the best for you is your idea of simple. And, despite what the governor's office might say about fairness and innovation, such a plan would play havoc with the already inexact science of state revenue projections as it offers two ways to favor the rich over the middle class.

It's not that the Utah tax system ain't broke. It's just that the proposed methods of fixing it keep getting worse.