Special contribution from our good friend and tax expert, Dan Pilla. 

For as long as I've been paying attention, presidents and Congress have empanelled blue ribbon commissions to study the tax code. About every five years, we see a commission with some kind of study poring forth from Washington.

And it's not that I'm against commissions, per se. Heck, I even served on one commission (The Road Map to Tax Reform) and was a consultant to two others. The fact is, most of the work done by these commissions is solid research and the findings are usually sound. The problem with commissions generally is not the commissions. The problem with commissions is that their work is mostly wasted.

For example, in the early 1980s, the Grace Commission formed under the Reagan Administration studied the question of waste and inefficiency in the federal government and made hundreds of recommendations on how to cut spending without cutting government services by so much as a nickel.

Congress didn't adopt even one of the commission's recommendations. Frustrated by the process, Peter Grace formed the Washington organization known as Citizens Against Government Waste. The organization is still functioning today.

Now President Obama has jumped on the "study the code" bandwagon. In late March, he announced the formation of "The Task Force on Tax Reform" to study the law and make recommendations for changes. This study will be chaired by former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker. A report is due in December 2009.

Normally, I greet the announcement of the formation another tax commission with a mighty yawn. But this one has me a bit concerned and I'll tell you why.

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